The Cunning Wolf
by SuperKat
Summary: EPILOGUE UP! STORY FINALLY FINISHED! Jamie meets a strange man in town who he thinks is a friend, but the man convinces him that there is nothing left for him in this world and it's all a downward spiral from there. Who can help Jamie now?
1. The Wolf in the Shadows: Jamie makes fri...

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Zoids or anything associated with them. They belong to… the Cartoon Network? I think that's right. Anyway, they don't belong to me. I just use them for my own amusement. I am not making any money off of this. No infringement is intended.  
  
CHAPTER ONE: The Wolf in the Shadows: Jamie makes friends with a stranger  
  
The dark restaurant was not as crowded this Tuesday night as it usually was on a Friday or a Saturday. Only the occasional team just passing through the town or some lone warriors sat in the depressing ambiance. The dark haired boy sitting alone at one of the smaller tables was grateful for this. Accompanied by only a glass of water and gloomy thoughts, the boy slouched backwards in his chair and scowled at the ceiling, wondering as he did so weather anyone at the Torros base even realized he was gone.  
  
/ The doc'll notice when he sees the half-completed maintenance reports, / he thought angrily. /Then he'll look around the base and get mad when he sees the Raynos gone./ He wondered if maybe someone, anyone, would worry for a moment about his absence besides the unfinished work he had left behind. He gave a derisive, internal laugh. The words "care about" and "Jamie" were never spoken in the same sentence among the Blitz team. Not when referring to him anyway.  
  
And now… they hadn't even remembered. Not that he had been expecting them to. The only reason they'd noticed last year was because his father had dropped by two days earlier just for the occasion. But this year his father was off God-knows-where flying *his * old Pteras – the one the Doc had traded in behind *his * back – and wouldn't be able to make it. Oscar Hemeros had called up the Hover cargo that morning to send his regards, but no one had been around to hear it. Leena and Bit were too busy flirting… ahem, fighting, to notice, Brad was off counting his money or something and the Doc was somewhere playing with his model Zoids. Jamie had a feeling that call was the extent of the acknowledgment he'd get this year.  
  
Jamie sighed. His life was so depressing. He took a long drink of water and sighed again.  
  
"That bad, eh, kid?"  
  
Jamie jumped and spun around in his seat. A man with long, raspberry colored hair that fell in a single thick braid down his back and dark glasses sat alone at the table next to him. His profile was facing the Raynos pilot; his high-collared black leather jacket and wrinkled olive complexion gave Jamie the slight creeps.  
  
"Wh-who are you?" he stammered.  
  
"No matter," the man replied in a gruff voice. "Not anymore. Yeh're a psychie, aren't yeh, boy?"  
  
"A what?" asked Jamie, puzzled at the strange inquiry.  
  
"A psychie. A sub-conscious pilot. Yeh've got an 'alter ego,' if yeh will, that fights for yeh." The strange man replied.  
  
"How- how did you know that?"  
  
"Yeh've got that look."  
  
Look? What look? Jamie shook his head in bewilderment. How did this man know who he was?  
  
"Dun worry about it," the man said with a faint trace of a smile. "Yeh learn to recognize the others after a while. We psychies need teh stick together."  
  
"You- you mean, you're… a-"  
  
"That's right, boy. Call me the Cunning Wolf. What's your name?"  
  
"Jamie," the boy replied without thinking.  
  
The Cunning Wolf scoffed and waved his hand impatiently. "Not that one. That's not who yeh are. I want your real name. The only one that's gunna get yeh anywhere in this worthless galaxy."  
  
Worthless was right. Jamie found himself wondering if getting anywhere even through his other personality would ever happen. He was starting to like this man; at the very least he was growing less creeped- out by his mysterious air.  
  
"The Wild Eagle."  
  
Wolf smiled. "It fits yeh. That'd be yer Zoid then, the green one out there with the wings?"  
  
Jamie nodded.  
  
"Yeh like him, do yeh, Eagle boy?"  
  
"Well, yeah. I guess so."  
  
Wolf smiled again. It was a friendly smile, strange for such a dark- looking face. "Here, come sit with me, boy. Talk teh me."  
  
"R-really?"  
  
"Yeah. I ain't waiting for anyone, and yeh look like yeh could use the company." He winked as Jamie turned his chair around and reached into a black satchel beside his chair. "Here, have a drink." He set two white mugs and two tall bottles on the tabletop. "Special creation of mine. Very soothing it is – helps calm yer troubles." As he spoke he took the red bottle and poured a dark crimson liquid into one of the mugs. He pushed it across the table towards Jamie.  
  
"What's in it?"  
  
"Ah, yeh know. That one's strawberry flavored – with real strawberries that is. None of that sugar syrup stuff fer me, thank you."  
  
Jamie bit his lip and pushed the drink back, "I'm allergic to strawberries," he told the Wolf apologetically.  
  
"Ah, yeh are, are yeh? That's too bad. Here, have the raspberry kind, then. That okay for yeh?" Jamie nodded and took the mug Wolf had filled from the maroon colored bottle with a quiet thank you.  
  
"So what brings yeh out here at this hour?" Wolf asked, taking a sip from his mug.  
  
Jamie shrugged. "Just had to get away from things, I guess."  
  
"Ah. I see. People gettin' yeh down?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"They never understand what it's like, do they?"  
  
"No," Jamie replied with a scowl. "But it's not like they care, anyway."  
  
"I feel yer pain there. They shove yeh on-teh the back burner without a thought, then just expect yeh teh cater their every whim when they need yeh."  
  
"Yeah," said Jamie with the hint of a smile. He liked Wolf. Sure, something about his manner was a little creepy, but Wolf understood him. Besides, Jamie liked having the company.  
  
"I haven't poisoned that drink, yeh know," said Wolf with another wink.  
  
Jamie smiled and took a sip. It was actually pretty good. The tart raspberry taste lingered on his tongue as the cool, refreshing liquid went down his throat. It carried a funny smell, and something about it seemed a little too sour, almost bitter, but it was good anyway. He took another drink. His glass of water sat forgotten on the other table.  
  
"So yeh like it?"  
  
"Yeah, it's really good," Jamie replied. "What's in it?"  
  
Wolf winked again. "Can't tell yeh that. My own personal recipe."  
  
"Oh." Jamie paused for a second and looked down. "So how did you know about me and the Wild Eagle and all?"  
  
"I told yeh," replied Wolf. "Yeh just learn to recognize it in people."  
  
"How?"  
  
"Yeh just do, that's all. Aren't many of us out there, yeh know."  
  
"I figured that," said Jamie darkly.  
  
"It's not a bad thing. Just means the others don't appreciate yeh fer who yeh are `cause they don't understand. Yeh've got something they don't, Eagle boy. Remember that. Yer a special one. They should be grateful they got someone like yeh on the team."  
  
"Right," said Jamie with a dark, derisive attempt at a laugh. "Totally disregarding the fact that I get shot down *first * pretty much *every time * I'm battle. I certainly didn't help them get to class S. The Blitz team would have gotten here with or without me." He scowled at the floor, which, for some strange reason was starting to spin, if ever so slowly.  
  
"Stop talkin like that," said Wolf sharply. Jamie shook his head and looked up. "That's just them talkin` again, and it's gunna get yeh nowhere in this lousy world. Don't listen teh them, Eagle boy. Yer a far better warrior than yeh realize. Better than they realize. Yeh just have teh find it in yerself. Listenin' teh their talk all the time ain't gunna help yeh, that's fer sure."  
  
"How would you know?" Jamie asked him, "You haven't seen me or the Wild Eagle in battle."  
  
"I got news for yeh, boy. *Yer * the Wild Eagle. Don't be talkin' about him like he isn't a part a yeh, cause he is. An' yer a fine pilot if I say yeh are. I see it in yeh."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Course I do."  
  
"It's not that I don't *like * thinking up strategies or anything," said Jamie quickly, "Because I do. I mean, I don't really mind staying on the hover cargo and monitoring the battle from there. I enjoy finding strategies and battle plans for the team."  
  
"Never said there was anything wrong with that. S'yer job. If that's what you like teh do, then do it. They depend on yeh fer it."  
  
"Well, no they don't," Jamie admitted glumly. "They don't exactly listen to me."  
  
"They don't, huh?"  
  
"Only once in a great while, like when they have no other way out." Jamie's last couple of words came out a bit wobbly; the room was starting to spin just a little bit faster now. He opened his mouth to ask Wolf exactly what was in the drink, but the older man cut him off.  
  
"S'just like what I told yeh. They're takin` yeh fer granted. They won't realize how much they need yeh until suddenly they're stuck out there and they ain't got yeh around teh help 'em outa whatever mess they got themselves in."  
  
"Tell me about it. It's nice to know there's someone out there who understands."  
  
"That's why we got teh stick together. Them conscious pilots out there don't know what it's like. If yeh let them get yeh down yer just letting them win. Eagles don't let other people push `em around."  
  
Jamie didn't know how to reply to this. He took another sip out of his almost-empty mug. Wolf was right. Whatever it was, it was certainly relaxing. He didn't really care anymore that by now the whole restaurant was turning so fast that he had to grab the edge of the table to steady himself. What did it matter if he passed out? It wasn't like anyone would worry about him, anyway.  
  
"Well, I got teh be goin'," said Wolf. "Nice talkin' teh yeh, Eagle Boy. Keep yer chin up."  
  
"Okay. Thanks for the drink," Jamie said weakly.  
  
"No problem. Maybe I'll see yeh around sometime?"  
  
"Yeah," replied Jamie vaguely. He shook his head, but found it hard to focus his eyes on anything. He gazed blankly into the brown table surface. The wood-painted lines across the top made him dizzy. "I'd like that."  
  
He heard Wolf's gentle chuckle and felt a hand on his shoulder before the mysterious stranger left the dark café, and Jamie found himself alone.  
  
The trip back to the Torros base was not one that Jamie would have described as fun. Right from the takeoff, he had to let the Raynos fly for him; the cockpit was spinning so fast he was beginning to see double and an unpleasant churning was starting to build in the pits of his stomach. Jamie leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes and breathing deeply.  
  
/What did the Cunning Wolf put in that drink?/ he wondered, shivering at the sudden clammy chill inside the cockpit. He put a hand to his forehead and groaned when he felt it to be unusually warm.  
  
/Hurry up and get back, Raynos,/ he thought desperately. He felt his arial Zoid increase speed by just the slightest margin. It seemed he didn't want his pilot to become violently ill in the cockpit any more than Jamie did.  
  
Jamie literally collapsed to his hands and knees once he reached the floor of the hangar. He took several deep, shaky breaths used every ounce of strength he had to keep himself from throwing up right here and now. The garage gave a frightening lurch when he stood; he staggered drunkenly down the hallway and leaned heavily against a wall.  
  
He gasped and cried out when Bit materialized directly between him and the bathroom.  
  
"Jamie!" the older blond cried, "Where on Zi have you been? We've been looking all over for you – "  
  
The rest of his words were lost on the young pilot, but Jamie was positive Bit was yelling at him for leaving the maintenance reports half- finished. Bit – the guy who *never * did *any * work for anyone – was lecturing *him * on leaving before his job was done. It made Jamie so angry that his blood began to boil. Or maybe that was just from his fever.  
  
"Bit," he gasped, "Move… I'm gunna… be sick…"  
  
But Bit didn't listen to him. No one ever did.  
  
Finally, the young Raynos warrior couldn't take it anymore. He charged straight towards the Liger warrior, screaming "MOVE IT, I'M GOING TO PUKE!" so loudly that Bit froze mid-sentence in shock. Jamie stumbled loudly into the bathroom and threw up, thanking his lucky stars that it all made it into the toilet.  
  
Black dots swam across his vision when he had finished. He flushed the toilet with a violently shaking hand and closed his eyes. He heard Bit's voice saying something incoherent – was that another voice with him? Jamie's vision was far too heavily blurred to see if there was one figure in the doorway or two. He didn't dare stand up, for fear of passing out before he got there. But it turned out not to matter anyway. Black and red dots exploded in front of his eyes, and Jamie gave himself to the welcoming darkness. He was able to feel his shoulder hit something – was it the floor or someone catching him? – before he lost feeling in his arms and legs and brain and gave himself to unconsciousness.  
  
END CHAPTER ONE  
  
NEXT CHAPTER: The Eagle in Captivity: Jamie faces his Teammates. 


	2. The Eagle in Captivity: Jamie faces his ...

DISCLAIMER: I STILL don't own Zoids or anything associated with them. They still belong to… the Cartoon Network? I'm going to give them credit unless someone would like to tell me otherwise. Please don't sue because they don't belong to me. I just use them for my own amusement. I am not making any money off of this. No infringement is intended.  
  
CHAPTER TWO: The Eagle in Captivity: Jamie faces his teammates  
  
Warning: There are two swears in this section. I'm sorry. I try to refrain from using language, but they just fit there.  
  
Jamie awoke sometime the next morning with a weak groan. He pried his eyelids open and let the white fuzz in front of his face sharpen into four figures standing above his bed in the infirmary. Doctor Torros was standing the closest to the bed; behind him stood Leena, Brad and Bit. All four of them had their arms folded and similar grave expressions on their faces that made Jamie feel like he was under some sort of federal interrogation.  
  
"So," said the Doc soberly. "How are you feeling, Jamie?"  
  
Jamie frowned. The room had stopped spinning, much to his relief, and the churning feeling inside his stomach and the feverish chill had both lifted.  
  
"Okay, I guess," he said, sitting up in the bed. He noticed he was still wearing his normal clothes. "What happened?"  
  
Leena and Brad both looked at each other, then back at Jamie. Neither the Doc nor Bit moved.  
  
"Well, I don't know, Jamie," said Doctor Torros with an odd chill in his voice, "You tell me."  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"Cut the crap, Jamie," snapped Bit angrily, "You know what we're talking about. Don't play dumb with us."  
  
Jamie shook his head slowly. A piece of ice had lodged itself in his gut; he was sure that this time it wasn't brought on by whatever had been in Wolf's drink. "No, I don't. Look, if it's about the maintenance reports, I'm sorry. I just – "  
  
"This isn't about the reports," said Dr. Torros sharply. "I've already finished those."  
  
"Oh." Jamie had only once in his time on the Blitz team left his work unfinished, and then he'd been plagued by such a heavy guilty conscience for the next week that he more than made up for it. This time, however, he felt no real pretense. *They * left their jobs, however minimal that they were, unfinished all the time. So why couldn't he do it once?  
  
"So what *is* this about?" he asked them uncertainly. Something about the cold stares they were giving him intimidated yet made him angry. If they stuck to their duties as well as he had, things might have been different. In the present case it was just unfair.  
  
"How'd you do it, Jamie?" asked Brad in his regular, creepy-calm tone.  
  
"Do… what? So I left. You leave all the time in the Shadow Fox. What did I do wrong?"  
  
"Oh, come on," snapped Leena. "How stupid do you think we are?"  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"What are we talking about? What do you think we're talking about? You go out, drink your brains out, come back absolutely drunk and expect us *not * to notice anything? Think again, Jamie!"  
  
Jamie's jaw dropped. "Wh-what?" he stammered. "Drunk?"  
  
"You've been drinking, Jamie," the Doc. confirmed grimly. "Don't try and deny it."  
  
Jamie looked around the room with nothing less than a stunned expression on his face. Drinking? This was certainly news to him. Wolf's drink… it must have had liquor in it or something. That would explain the funny taste. No wonder his teammates were mad at him. Why hadn't Wolf said anything about alcohol in his drink? Hadn't he noticed Jamie was just a *few* years underage? Was he *trying* to get him drunk or something? A sharp sting of something like betrayal shot through his heart. Wolf had seemed so friendly, so trustworthy, but now look where he'd landed him.  
  
"I didn't – I didn't mean to. I can explain," he told his angry comrades.  
  
"I was hoping you could," replied Doctor Torros coldly.  
  
"I met this guy at the restaurant in town," Jamie began helplessly, wondering if there was anything to prove he was telling the truth and not just making it all up. "He said he was an alter-ego pilot, like me. He was really nice, and we got to talking, and he offered me a drink. It must have had alcohol in it or something, but I didn't know that. Honest." His last word was spoken desperately. What would he do if they didn't believe him? What would they do to him?  
  
"So you accepted a drink from some random guy in town," said Leena doubtfully.  
  
"Yeah," Jamie replied, looking down at the white sheets on the bed.  
  
"And you had no idea it had any… alcohol or anything in it?" asked Bit skeptically.  
  
"None. He seemed really friendly, so I figured he knew my age and wouldn't have offered it to me if it did. It never really crossed my mind."  
  
"You couldn't taste it or smell anything unusual about it?" Bit's voice by now was dripping with disbelief.  
  
"How am I supposed to recognize that stuff?" demanded Jamie angrily. "My dad doesn't drink, and I certainly never did. I haven't been around it enough to know what it smells like."  
  
"I can vouch for both of those," Doctor Torros cut in. "Oscar Hemeros believed alcohol hindered his skills as a pilot. He wouldn't touch it. And you, Jamie, just had what I'm positive was an allergic reaction to whatever it was that was in the drink you had, so we would have known if anything like this had ever happened before."  
  
"You mean… I'm allergic to alcohol?"  
  
"It certainly looks that way," replied the Doc. with a nod.  
  
That caught Jamie by surprise. He didn't know that was even possible. But it did explain why he'd gotten so sick. He noticed now, looking back on it all, that some of his symptoms *had* seemed kind of familiar… It was the fact that he was dizzier than he had ever been in one of his other reactions – no doubt this time owing to his first-time encounter with alcohol – that had pushed the idea of an allergy to the drink from his mind. The idea did make sense, though. After all, he'd only had one mug of that stuff.  
  
Jamie checked out the expression on the face of every person in the room. They were all giving him a similar look, like they had just met him for the very first time and were trying to analyze him or something. That just made him angrier.  
  
"I didn't drink illegally on purpose," he repeated with almost desperation. "I'm telling you the truth. I didn't know."  
  
"I believe you," the Doc. replied to Jamie's relief after a short pause. "It's not like you to go out and drink like that, anyway. I just thought you would know better than to accept something from some stranger in town. What were you thinking?"  
  
"I don't know!" cried Jamie in exasperation. Everyone else was taken aback at the outburst. "I wasn't, okay? I'm sorry! I just had to get away for an evening, and it got out of hand. That's all."  
  
"But why?" Leena asked him.  
  
"Why? Why not? So I'm not allowed to leave the base unless I have some sort of errand to run, or something I have to do in town? You guys take your Zoids out for runs all the time, and yet I have to stay in here like some errand boy? So I'm confined to the base unless I'm doing something for one of you, is that it?" Heat prickles began to poke at the backs of Jamie's eyes. He clenched his teeth and willed away the tears. They just didn't get it. He heard Wolf's gruff voice inside his head.  
  
/They shove yeh on-teh the back burner without a thought, then expect yeh teh cater their every whim when they need yeh./  
  
"It's not like that at all – "  
  
"Like *hell * it isn't!" Jamie shouted hotly. All four of his teammates stepped back in surprise. Jamie never, ever swore, not to anyone.  
  
"Jamie," said Doctor Torros in complete shock, "What's gotten into you?"  
  
Jamie was so angry he couldn't speak. He exhaled through clenched teeth and met everyone's eyes with nothing but utter hatred. Wolf was right. They just didn't understand.  
  
/What's gotten into me?/ He thought furiously. /I'll tell you what's gotten into me! For more than a year now, I've been tossed aside and completely ignored like some stupid piece of trash lying around because you have nothing better to do with me. I've practically been your slave the whole time, but all you ever do for me is steal my Zoid, or trade it in without my consent, or sneak things behind my back that are supposed to be my responsibility. You never cared for me like another human being, and I'm sick of it! You either don't notice or you think I won't when you just step around me like I'm not supposed to even be here. It's always about you guys. I'm just here. You've never done anything in your for me; never once in your sorry little lives did it occur to you that I had feelings and emotions just like the rest of you. That I could feel pain just like you can. That every time you toss me aside like some worthless dish rag, it would hurt, and I sometimes just want to sit in a corner and *die* because I know that not one of you would even think twice about losing me until the next meal popped up. You can't find it in yourselves to give a *shit* about me, and I hate it!/  
  
A throbbing lump began to rise in the back of his throat as the stinging feeling in the back of his eyes grew stronger. Jamie didn't speak. He merely threw back the sheets in a fit of anger and stormed from the room, leaving the others standing alone in the infirmary.  
  
Tears blurred his vision of the hallway as he walked. He gritted his teeth as hard as he possibly could. The last thing he wanted was for the others to see him completely break down right here in the corridor.  
  
"Jamie?" someone called cautiously behind him. Jamie stopped in his path but did not turn around.  
  
"Jamie, look at me. Talk to me. What's going on with you?" It was Leena. Jamie rubbed his eyes frantically, but more tears flooded his eyes as quickly as he could rub them away. He didn't want to face her like this. He didn't want to face anyone right now.  
  
/If you have to ask, then that's an explanation in itself/ he thought bitterly. Part of him, just a tiny little sparkle of hope in the back of his head, had been wondering if maybe, just maybe, they really had known. That they were just pretending they didn't, planning a surprise party for him or something. But that tiny little voice had been silenced this morning when he met four cold, overbearing glares from people he was supposed to be closest to. There would be no surprise party. There would be no celebration, period. They truly had forgotten. Forget forgotten, they never even *knew*. Never knew, never cared. Never bothered to look it up. He'd known the Torros's as far back as he could remember; he knew Leena's, Leon's and the Doc.'s birthdays right off the top of his head. He even had *Brad's * birthday marked for God's sake. Bit had not yet been a part of the team for a year; Jamie was sure that when the Liger pilot's birthday approached he would do nothing less than announce it to the entire Zoid commission. Jamie swallowed hard and gritted his teeth in both anguish and anger.  
  
No one had even made the effort to remember that yesterday was his.  
  
Leena just stood there watching him without a word. Tears began stream down his cheeks again, and he fled. He didn't want to talk to her anyway. He didn't want to talk to anyone. He was sure they didn't care about speaking to him right now either.  
  
Jamie shut and locked the door to his bedroom; the last thing he wanted right now was company. Not that anyone else on the Blitz team really cared that he was here. They wouldn't be bothered to come in after him unless there was a basket of laundry to be folded, or until lunchtime when they realized that no one around even knew how to make a sandwich. It was like Wolf had said. /"They won't realize how much they need yeh until suddenly they're stuck out there and they ain't got yeh around teh help 'em outa whatever mess they got themselves in."/  
  
It had always been that way. Even when Leon was a part of the team, no one really noticed weather or not Jamie was around unless he spoke up for himself. Yet even then they very rarely heard what he had to say. They just didn't care. Not that he blamed them. There were times when he just felt like an extra. An outsider. An unneeded stand-around they could have easily done without. The only reason he was even on this stupid team was because the Doc. and his father were best friends.  
  
/It's like the Doc. was doing my dad a favor,/ he thought darkly. /Taking me off of his hands./  
  
Last night, he had thought that *finally* there was someone in this godforsaken galaxy who understood him. Someone who knew what it was like to be overlooked time and time again. Someone who understood the feeling of being used, needed only for chores and boring busy-work that no one else wanted to do.  
  
But Wolf had betrayed him. Gave him a drink that could have possibly killed him while he, Jamie, poured his heart out to a stranger he had thought he could trust.  
  
/I was stupid for not seeing it,/ he berated himself angrily. /A total idiot – why couldn't I have realized? All I did was get myself sick, and look where I am now. No one's even worried about me./  
  
But he didn't care. Not anymore. If they were too busy or too good or too whatever to care about him, he wouldn't be bothered to care about them either. He didn't need anyone anyway.  
  
Jamie collapsed onto his bed, hugged his knees to his chest, and sobbed into his folded arms for a very long time.  
  
END CHAPTER TWO  
  
NEXT CHAPTER: "You Are the Only Victim": Wolf re-enters the picture  
  
A/N: I had vowed to stop saying this, but no one reviewed the first chapter so PLEASE somebody review it now! Even if you don't like it, constructive criticism is a very good thing. 


	3. "You are the Only Victim": Wolf re-enter...

DISCLAIMER: I STILL don't own Zoids or anything associated with them. I'm told they belong to Viz and Pioneer. Please don't sue because they don't belong to me. I just use them for my own amusement. I am not making any money off of this. No infringement is intended.  
  
A/N: Thank you EVERYONE who reviewed! They really do motivate me to post faster.  
  
Snakelady Frohike: I can't tell you what's going to happen! Just keep reading and see. BUT, I can promise that he isn't going to die or anything. If I had any intention of killing him off (which I just don't have the heart to do) I would have warned you in the very beginning.  
  
Dessa: Thanks for the info. Who knows, you may have saved me a lot of money, and a trip to court at that.  
  
Anime_Lover and Kia Enfim: I totally agree with you. Jamie is definitely my favorite character on the show, and he deserves more attention than he gets. I wish more people would write about him.  
  
Prism Eclipser: Neither. I wouldn't exactly call Wolf a kindhearted person, but I don't write about sex stuff so none of that's going to happen.  
  
DarkLightAngel9: I can't tell you exactly why Wolf gave Jamie that drink because that would give away part of the plot. Jamie accepted because he's a trusting kid, and he thought Wolf would've told him if it was alcoholic. Not stupidity, mind you, just a need for trust.  
  
On with the next chapter:  
  
CHAPTER THREE: "You are the Only Victim": Wolf re-enters the picture  
  
Jamie emerged from his room late that evening, hoping against hope that his eyes weren't still red and puffy from crying. It was his stomach that had lured him out – the realization that he hadn't eaten a thing since dinner last night. He was surprised when no one came to his room nagging him about lunch or dinner. Maybe they'd finally taken the hint and cooked for themselves for once. Jamie found it hard to grow too excited about that though, for it meant that there was almost certainly the mess of all messes in the kitchen waiting for him to come clean up.  
  
Brad emerged from one of the side doors and passed him in the hallway. Jamie looked to the ground and shifted to the side, avoiding the mercenary's gaze. He didn't want anyone to see his face, not right now. He was almost positive that were he asked any questions, he would melt into tears all and start the whole mess all over again.  
  
It turned out to be a pointless effort. Brad didn't even seem to notice Jamie was there, more or less that his eyes were practically bloodshot from crying so much.  
  
/He didn't even see me,/ Jamie thought bitterly. /Surprise, surprise. They probably didn't even notice I was gone all day./  
  
To his amazement, the kitchen was as clean when he entered it this evening as it had been when he finished cleaning up after dinner last night. Had they just *not* done anything about their meals, and instead waited for him to get his act together and cook for them? Knowing the Doc., they'd probably ordered out or something. Jamie found after a moment that he didn't really care. He just sat down at the table with a sandwich he'd made and ate by himself.  
  
"GET BACK HERE, BIT CLOUD!" a familiar female bellow echoed throughout the base and Jamie winced. "I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU YET!"  
  
"What did I say?" came the closer but somehow much quieter reply. "I was simply pointing out that – "  
  
"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR EXCUSES! YOU'RE GOING TO REGRET BEING BORN BY THE TIME I'M DONE WITH YOU!"  
  
Leena certainly had an unusual way of getting guys. Normally their antics would have made Jamie laugh, but today they didn't do much for his mood. He finished his sandwich and put his plate in the dishwasher, thinking of going back to town again tonight. He certainly didn't want to hang around here. Thoughts of Wolf entered his mind and Jamie pushed them away. Why the strange old man had given him alcohol without telling him, Jamie would never understand, but he definitely did not want to associate with someone like that. That kind of situation could just get him in trouble. But he needed to get away for the night. It was too painful to stick around the base.  
  
Jaime was grateful as he entered the hall that Leena had chased Bit to somewhere around the other side of the base. He didn't feel like running into either of them and getting caught in their little escapade right now.  
  
"Jamie?"  
  
Doctor Torros's voice stopped him in his tracks, and his heart leapt. Something in his voice was cautious, almost gentle sounding. Jamie didn't want to get his hopes up, but maybe… just maybe… had someone finally realized what day it was?  
  
"What is it?" he asked without turning around.  
  
"I have a list of supplies for the Gun Sniper and the Shadow Fox that need to be picked up in town tonight. Could you go down to the shop and get them for me?"  
  
Jamie's heart sank down to his knees. He closed his eyes and willed away the sharp tears that were starting to build again behind his eyes. It was stupid of him to think they'd remember. Stupid to hope for it.  
  
"Yeah sure," he said in what he hoped was a steady tone. He refused to look Doctor Torros in the eye when he took the list and looked at it. The last thing he wanted was for the Doc. to see him crying. At least the supply list wasn't that long. Nothing the Raynos couldn't handle.  
  
/These thing have to be done, anyway,/ he told himself as he stepped into the cockpit. /And I was already going into town. There's nothing wrong with being asked to run an errand while I'm there./  
  
Jamie leaned his head back in the seat as they left the hangar, letting a few stray tears slide down his cheeks.  
  
* * *  
  
Jamie stopped at the shop before he went into the café, wanting to get the stupid errand over with first. He was very relieved to find that Wolf was nowhere to be seen. He ordered a glass of iced tea and sat as he had last night. Alone.  
  
"Back again, Eagle boy?"  
  
Jamie jumped higher than he had last night and spun around in his seat. None other than Wolf himself was standing behind him, holding the same black satchel in his hand.  
  
"You," Jamie said angrily.  
  
"Me," Wolf agreed. "So yeh aren't happy teh see me? Though yeh would've wanted the company. Unless yeh're waiting around fer them teh come sit with yeh."  
  
"Why didn't you tell me your drink had alcohol in it?" Jamie demanded.  
  
Wolf raised his eyebrows. "Thought yeh would've known. Not many come out here in evenings just teh stay sober."  
  
"I don't drink," Jamie told him. "I figured *you* were the one who would've realized *that*."  
  
Wolf raised his eyebrows. "Yeh don't, huh?"  
  
"How old do you think I am?"  
  
"I dunno. I figured yeh might've been a couple'a years underage, but I didn't know yeh didn't drink *at all*."  
  
"A couple?" Jamie looked at him in disbelief. Wolf's eyebrows stayed where they were.  
  
"How old are yeh? Can't be that much younger, can yeh?"  
  
"I'm four – fifteen," replied Jamie.  
  
"Are yeh? That's not what I would've said. Yeh look a lot older than yeh are."  
  
"Really?" Jamie asked skeptically. This was strange. Was Wolf telling him the truth, or just saying that as an excuse?  
  
"Yeah. Has no one ever told yeh that before?"  
  
Jamie shook his head slowly. "They usually tell me just the opposite."  
  
"Do they now?"  
  
"Yeah," Jamie looked to the table and let his tone drop. He was finding it hard to be mad at Wolf anymore. Maybe the guy was right. It was hard to tell just by looking at himself in the mirror. "Bit says I could pass for a twelve-year-old if I wanted."  
  
"Well, does *Bit* understand and treat yeh like the warrior yeh really are? Or is he just like the rest of 'em?"  
  
Jamie looked to the floor but didn't answer.  
  
"That's what I thought," said Wolf gruffly. "I'm sorry about the drinks, kid. Yeh didn't tell me how old yeh were and besides, I was certainly drinking before I was yer age. Only way to last through the day sometimes."  
  
"Not for me," said Jamie quietly. "Turns out I'm allergic to alcoholic drinks."  
  
"Are yeh, now? That's too bad. I did wonder. Yeh looked a bit peaked when I left for just one drink. The raspberry kind isn't that strong, either. It tends teh get too sour if yeh put too much in." He sat down opposite Jamie at the table and poured himself a mug out of the red bottle. "Strawberry's my favorite," he said. "It's really too bad yeh can't eat 'em. I've always had a thing fer strawberries. Yeh can put a lot of rum in this one and the taste is still all right. I never liked that bitter taste yeh get, so I only drink from my own bottle nowadays."  
  
Jamie didn't reply.  
  
"What's the matter? Yer really quiet. They getting yeh down again?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"What'd they do this time?"  
  
"You mean, what didn't they do?" replied Jamie darkly. "My birthday was yesterday and no one besides my dad even realized it."  
  
"It was, was it? Well, happy birthday, Eagle boy. Yeh never said anything teh me about it."  
  
"Thanks. I didn't really want to talk about it yesterday. I guess part of me was still hoping they'd remember and surprise me or something. But they still don't know."  
  
"Yeh never said anything to them?"  
  
"No. I didn't want to seem like I was nagging them about it. Especially if they did have something planned. I would've just felt stupid. It would feel weird to mention it now. But hey, at least my dad remembered."  
  
"Well, that's something. I never had my dad around when I was a kid."  
  
"I don't get to see him all that much. I was really glad when he called, partially because I was hoping someone would overhear and take the hint. But they didn't. Brad and the Doc. were off somewhere in their own little worlds, and Bit was off being the victim of yet another one of Leena's tantrums."  
  
"Funny how yeh call him the victim," said Wolf.  
  
"Why is that?"  
  
"Seems teh me like yer the only victim in this case. I've seen this Bit yeh keep talking about, and he certainly doesn't look like a victim to me."  
  
"True," Jamie admitted. Something about what Wolf had just said caught his attention. He'd never really considered himself a victim before, but when he thought about it, the title seemed to fit him well. No one else at the Torros base had to do nearly the work he did, and yet no one was cast aside nearly as much as he was.  
  
/I really am the only victim,/ he thought. The idea didn't cheer him up much.  
  
"Are you a Zoid warrior?" he asked Wolf suddenly. Wolf seemed surprised.  
  
"I was once," he answered.  
  
"On a team and all that?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"What did you pilot?"  
  
"One of the older Zoids, called the Night Rider. He was the only friend I had back in those days. Understood me like no one else."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah. I was in much the same position as yeh are now. Ignored, cast aside, stepped over. I did most of the housework and all that at the base. Other than that the only reason I was really there was 'cause my mom and the team leader were step-brother and sister or something like that. No one there really liked me."  
  
"What did you do?"  
  
"What else could I do? I stuck around, drank until I couldn't remember my own name every night and enjoyed every minute of it. I fought when they said they needed me, saved their sorry behinds on some occasions, but 'course they never really noticed when I came through fer them. They tend teh notice only the stuff yeh do wrong."  
  
"I hear you there," said Jamie glumly. "You never tried to leave them?"  
  
"I did, a couple times. Didn't really work out. No one wanted teh fight someone like me. The idea of fighting a guy with a split personality didn't really appeal teh them. Most thought it was some kinda joke. I finally left the team for good, just cause I couldn't stand being around 'em any more. And now look where I am."  
  
Jamie didn't ask what kind of life Wolf led now. He was too afraid of the answer, knowing that it almost certainly revealed his own future. Was this the kind of person he was to become? Some lone drunkard, hanging about the pubs by himself? A failed warrior with no friends? Except he couldn't drink… So what did that leave for him?  
  
/Nothing,/ Jamie thought bitterly. /Absolutely nothing. My life will be nothing but some blank, worthless existence that no one cares about./ Why did his life have to be this way? What did he do to deserve this kind of hell-life? Jamie stared into the table, hoping desperately that the floor would simply open up and take him away from this place and bring him somewhere where there was someone around who liked him. Someone to whom he could actually matter.  
  
It didn't. Jamie looked up to find Wolf's chair empty. He'd simply gone. Probably didn't want to stick around after Jamie had grilled him with questions about his past. He felt bad for asking, but a part of him simply had to know. It was nice to know that he wasn't the only person in the galaxy with this kind of life. Yet thoughts of his future now that he'd seen what was in store for him no longer promised an appealing lifestyle.  
  
Jamie sighed. He finished the last of his drink and stood up to leave the dark restaurant.  
  
END OF CHAPTER THREE  
  
NEXT CHAPTER: Unfair Confrontations: The Blitz Team vs. Jamie 


	4. Unfair Confrontations: The Blitz Team vs...

DISCLAIMER: I STILL don't own Zoids or anything associated with them. I'm told they belong to Viz and Pioneer. Please don't sue because they don't belong to me. I just use them for my own amusement. I am not making any money off of this. No infringement is intended.  
  
A/N: I didn't get nearly as many reviews for the last chapter as I did for Chapter 2. Is my story getting boring? Please tell me if it is. Things should pick up right after this chapter, so stick around. Thank you SO MUCH to those of you who did review. I don't like to say things like "give me 5 reviews or I won't post again" but why update a story no one reads? Anyway, thanks. A LOT. I am eternally grateful.  
  
CHAPTER FOUR: Unfair Confrontations: The Blitz Team vs. Jamie  
  
"What took you so long, Jamie?" Jamie groaned to himself when Leena's impatient ranting greeted him via intercom. "We've been waiting practically forever for you to come back with those parts! Where on Zi have you been?"  
  
Practically forever? He'd been gone, what, an hour and a half? Two hours at the most. He tried in vain to smother the impending pang of guilt building in his gut. No one had told him they were *waiting* for him to come back.  
  
"I was just in town," he replied with a scowl. He was in no mood to face this right now. The last thing he needed to be reminded of was something *else* he'd done wrong; yet *another* way he'd screwed things up for his team.  
  
"What the heck were you doing?" Leena practically shrieked. "Here I am, sitting around, waiting for you to come back with my new Gunsniper parts, and you're off – "  
  
Jamie pressed a button below the screen on the Raynos and wiped Leena's face completely from view, stopping her angry shouts mid sentence. He paused for a moment in surprise. It was completely unlike his shy and submissive character to just cut someone off like that.  
  
But Leena refused to stay silent for long. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?" Her intimidating bellow made Jamie flinch, but he was second only to the Doc. in knowing almost everything about the Zoids and the computer systems they came with, so it was not a difficult task to cut off his furious teammate a second time and block any more connections with the Hover Cargo.  
  
He knew, however, that blocking transmissions from the Hover Cargo would not prevent Leena from pouncing on him once he landed in the hangar. And pounce on him she did.  
  
"WHAT ON ZI IS YOUR PROBLEM?" she cried, shouting so loudly that Jamie could've sworn dust was beginning to fall from the ceiling. She had him pinned against the side of the Raynos, with her hands to either side of his shoulders and her fuchsia-colored face mere inches from his. Jamie gritted his teeth and tried not to cower in her presence. He didn't think he'd ever seen her this angry at *him* before. She usually just didn't care. "WHAT DID YOU CUT ME OFF FOR? I WAS TALKING TO YOU, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!"  
  
"I *got* the parts," Jamie told her in a voice that clearly wavered in fear. "I can get them down for you if you just let me go."  
  
"Forget about it," Leena snapped, "I'll just get them myself." She backed away and started climbing up to the cockpit of *his* Raynos without a shred of hesitation. Jamie could feel the hot indignation building in his cheeks. If anyone so much as laid a *hand* on the Gunsniper's paint job, she'd have his or her brain strapped to the bottom of his or her shoe before you could say "Ready… fight!" The same went for Brad and his Shadow Fox. Bit didn't need to defend his Zoid because the Liger Zero wouldn't let anyone but his respective pilot anywere near him anyway, but Jamie was sure that if he had to, Bit would defend the Liger with double the devotion that Leena and Brad showed. Yet no one thought twice about climbing up into the cockpit of *his* Zoid and even flying off without asking when circumstances called for it. It just wasn't fair.  
  
Jamie sulked out of the hangar and let Leena and Brad help themselves to the new Zoid parts.  
  
"Hey, didn't you bring anything back for me?"  
  
Jamie scowled and clenched his fists so tightly that his nails dug into his skin.  
  
"No."  
  
"Hey, lighten up. I was just kidding."  
  
Jamie didn't reply. That stuff just wasn't funny right now. Bit stepped in front of him and blocked his path.  
  
"What's the matter with you, Jamie?" he asked angrily. "You cut off Leena, you storm away like you hate us all, now you won't even look at me. Is something wrong?"  
  
/Like you really care,/ Jamie thought in annoyance.  
  
"Bit's right, Jamie," said Doctor Torros, entering the hall. "Something's going on with you. What is it? Why can't you just talk to us?"  
  
/Because I've tried, and you have no intention of really listening to me,/ Jamie snapped back in his mind.  
  
"Nothing's wrong," he said in a voice that spoke quite the contrary. "I'm just tired. I'm going to go to bed now, if you don't mind."  
  
Bit and the Doc. moved to let him pass. He refused to look either of them in the eye.  
  
"What's eating him?" Bit asked the Doc. quietly after Jamie had gone.  
  
"I don't know," Torros replied with a sigh. "I've never seen him like this before."  
  
"Maybe the kid's just in a bad mood or something."  
  
"You might be right. Except, it isn't like Jamie at all to take it out on the rest of us. Oh well. I guess we all have our moments."  
  
"Yeah. Talk about 'moments,' though. Did you see the look on Leena's face when he shut the screen off? I don't think she's ever looked at anyone like that except me."  
  
The Doc. smiled. "Leena does have a tendency to fly off the handle."  
  
"No kidding. Like I've never seen *that* happen before."  
  
Torros laughed. "Come on, we should probably go make sure Leena and Brad are doing okay in the hangar."  
  
"Yeah. I'm right behind you."  
  
* * *  
  
Bit sauntered in to the rec. room the next morning, a smug look on his face and a cockier swing to his gait than was normal even for him. Leena, Brad and the Doc. looked up in interest. Jamie looked up in malice. He was sure from Bit's overly self-satisfied air that *he* certainly hadn't cried himself to sleep the night before. He returned to folding the laundry in silence, noting that no one, as usual, had even made a note of the fact that *their* clean clothes were all here in this one basket, more or less offered to help. Barely two words had even been spoken to him that morning. It was like he wasn't even here.  
  
"So what'ja call us in here for, Bit?" Brad asked his blond-haired teammate.  
  
"We-ell," Bit began with a silly grin, "I was looking at my calendar last night, and I noticed something regarding birthdays that I thought you should all know about."  
  
Jamie froze. He didn't know if he dared to believe what he was hearing.  
  
"Oh boy," said Leena, rolling her eyes, "Here we go."  
  
"I wondered," said the Doc. with a trace of a smile. "I wondered when this would be coming up."  
  
"That's right," beamed Bit. "Everybody's favorite warrior turns seventeen in just two months."  
  
Jamie's heart plummeted into his shoes. He could feel every inch of his insides wilt and drop to the very pits of his shoes. He returned to his work.  
  
/Of course,/ he thought angrily. /Like he'd be talking about me. Stupid not to think of it. Stupid to hope like that./ That was when it really hit him. His birthday was two days ago, and the only recognition he'd gotten was from Wolf and his father. He wasn't *getting* anything else this year. His birthday was past. It was over. Too late to tell them all now. /Face it,/ he told himself bitterly. /They don't know. They don't care./  
  
"Seventeen?" Leena muttered under her breath. "More like three."  
  
Bit didn't seem to hear her. He was usually too zoned-out to hear anything except what he wanted to, anyway. No surprises there. Jamie clenched his teeth and set one of Bit's blue shirts into the basket.  
  
"So," said Brad calmly, his eyebrows raised, "Your point is…"  
  
Bit scowled.  
  
"Come on, guys!" he cried. "Hel-lo? My birthday? That deserves some recognition, a little something special… ya know?"  
  
Jamie heard only Brad's chuckle before the frustrated anger clouded his mind so thickly he could barely see, more or less hear the mercenary's reply. It was almost too much to bear. He could hear his own breath coming in short, angry gasps as he tried not to completely blow his top at his fellow warriors. His hands began to shake so violently that it took three tries to fold one of Leena's sweaters before he finally got it right. No one seemed to notice.  
  
"So, Jamie?" said Bit brightly, "You going to cook something special for the big night?"  
  
The younger warrior said nothing in response. He didn't trust himself to look Bit in the eye; he was too afraid of what he'd do if he lost control. Jamie clenched his teeth and scowled into his lap.  
  
"Jamie?" Bit persisted. "Are you in there?"  
  
Bit wasn't greeted with a civilized reply. He drew back in surprise when Jamie suddenly threw down the pair of shorts he was in the process of folding – coincidentally, they had been his own yellow pair – and stormed out of the rec. room without a word.  
  
"Jamie?" Leena called uncertainly to the boy's disappearing back. There was no response.  
  
"Jamie!"  
  
A hand suddenly made itself known on Jamie's shoulder and spun him around sharply. Jamie backed up against the wall like a cornered animal and glared into the offending green eyes with what he hoped was indifference instead of agony.  
  
Doctor Torros was approaching quickly behind Bit's back.  
  
"Jamie," he told the boy sternly, "this has to stop. You need to talk to us. What is going on with you?"  
  
"It was just a question," said Bit stupidly. "I didn't mean anything by it."  
  
Brad and Leena appeared behind the Doc. All four of them stood facing the youngest warrior with expressions similar to that of the night he had become sick from Wolf's drink. There was nothing in their eyes of genuine concern, only frustration and anger and a certain analyzing glint that made Jamie feel very on the spot. It was like he was facing a whole other team, as though Bit had challenged him to a battle in which he was fighting alone against four others.  
  
There was nobody else to fight for his side.  
  
"You can forget about giving us the silent treatment, Jamie," said Brad with his eyes closed. "Not one of us is going to move until you tell us why you're so angry all of a sudden."  
  
"Why do you suddenly care so much?" Jamie demanded.  
  
"Because you are a part of the team weather you like it or not, and we need to be able to communicate with each other," Doctor Torros replied. "Now stop being so selfish, and– "  
  
"Selfish?" Jamie cried indignantly. "Since when am *I* the one being selfish? You guys have *never* treated me like I'm a part of the team! It's always 'Bit' this and 'Liger' that and 'good job in the battle today, Leena' or 'geez, the Shadow Fox really came through for us today'… it's never about me. You *never* listen to the strategies I think up for you, nobody ever appreciates the fact that half of my life is spent doing laundry and cooking and doing all the paperwork and basically working my but off for you guys! You never notice when I might have something useful to say besides when and where our next battle is going to be, and you call *me* selfish? I've put up with you stepping around me and pretending I don't even exist for almost a year now. The only time you *ever* notice me is when I screw something up, or when I do something wrong and all four of you pounce on me like I've committed some sort of sin against the world. How can you call me a part of the team when you don't even treat me like a fellow human being most of the time?"  
  
Jamie stopped his small speech and glared at the floor almost breathlessly. Silence settled in for a minute or so. He took the initiative and ran down the hall to the safe confines of his locked room.  
  
"Geez," said Brad, breaking the shocked silence. "How long has he been holding that one in?"  
  
Bit scowled at him, but for the first time in his life seemed unable to say anything.  
  
"Have we really been that bad?" asked Leena uncertainly.  
  
"I don't think so," replied Doctor Torros. "Jamie does have a tendency to overreact to things sometimes. This must be some phase he's going through. It'll pass. He just needs to sort a couple of things out, that's all."  
  
Bit didn't know if he was so sure. One by one, starting with Brad, the others returned to whatever it was that they had been doing before Bit summoned them, but the Liger warrior remained where he was. He stared down the empty hallway with an odd mix of confusion and regret.  
  
It was another couple of minutes before he, too, turned and left quietly, leaving Jamie alone with only his despairing thoughts and the tears he could not contain.  
  
END OF CHAPTER FOUR  
  
NEXT CHAPTER: The Eagle Has Fallen: When warriors hit rock bottom  
  
A/N: Pleasepleaseplease review and tell me what you think! I need to know if this is any good or I won't be able to continue. 


	5. The Eagle Has Fallen: When warriors hit ...

DISCLAIMER: Nothing changed since the last chapter. I still don't own Zoids or anything associated with them, and let's face it, I never will. They belong to Viz and Pioneer, just like they will for the next chapter… and the next.... I just use them for my own amusement. I am not making any money off of this. No infringement is intended.  
  
A/N: I think I said this before, but I'll say it again. I HAVE NO INTENTION OF MAKING THIS A DEATHFIC OF ANY KIND. I hate those stories when one character dies without warning at the end, so when and if I do write character death, I tell you it's going to happen from the very beginning. Nobody, not Jamie, not Wolf, not Bit, nobody is going to die in this story. Rest assured.  
  
CHAPTER FIVE: The Eagle Has Fallen: When warriors hit rock bottom  
  
Jamie pried his stinging eyes open and took a moment to stare at the ceiling before he rolled over in bed to take a glance at the clock. The numbers flashed at him almost accusingly, showing him that it was, in fact, morning. Jamie rubbed a hand over his eyes and yawned. To him it felt as though he had merely blinked sometime in the dead of night – long after everyone else had fallen asleep – and suddenly it was time to get up.  
  
Puffy red eyes stared at him from behind the bathroom mirror. He must not have been asleep that long in order for his face to still show the effects of him having sobbed helplessly well into the night. Jamie splashed his face with cool water and let it run down his cheeks as he continued to look at his pathetic reflection.  
  
/Weak,/ he told himself. /That's all I am. Weak and pitiful. Nobody else cries nearly as much as I do. Even the people who are worth something in this life…/  
  
He let his thought trail off. Realization struck him.  
  
/What *am* I worth in this world?/  
  
Besides cooking and cleaning, was he really worth anything to anyone? If something happened to him… say he was killed in a Zoid battle or in some sort of accident… would anyone be able to look back on his life and say he did something worthwhile, something right? Would anyone even cry for him if he died?  
  
The cold water dripped off his cheeks and fell into the sink. Jamie continued to stare at himself in the mirror.  
  
He didn't know the answer.  
  
* * *  
  
That night hadn't been the first night Jamie had kept himself up late crying, and it certainly wasn't the last. Every morning after that he noticed that the shadows under his eyes were darker than they had been the previous morning, his cheeks were growing paler and paler with each progressing day.  
  
Nobody on the Blitz team seemed to notice his deteriorating color, however, and the following week took the already formed rift between Jamie and his teammates and made it into a canyon. Sometimes the whole day passed without the Raynos warrior saying a single word to anyone. Nobody at the Torros base seemed to mind. The only time his fellow warriors ever had anything to say to him these days was when they were yelling at him for screwing up or cornering him and placing him on the spot and accusing *him* of being too self-centered. To make matters worse, Bit had somehow found a way to take anything anyone said and somehow twist it to relate to the fact that *his* seventeenth birthday was in less than two months and counting. Jamie wasn't surprised in any way at this – he would have expected nothing less from the clueless Liger warrior. But it hurt, a lot more than he cared to admit even to himself. The only person with whom he could ever get a decent conversation these days was Wolf.  
  
Wolf… nearly every night that week Jamie would leave the base in the Raynos and chat with the older warrior in the same restaurant for an hour or so. It was a nice thought, knowing that he wasn't the only person in this galaxy who had to live like this. Still, his conversations with Wolf never did much for his state of mind. Wolf understood perfectly what he was going through, the way the housework and paperwork were just *expected* of him, the way everyone around simply refused to see him as the human being he was, but Jamie always felt so hopeless when he left. He couldn't help but thinking as they talked that he was looking at an older version of himself; an old man sitting around in bars with no one to miss him if he simply fell off the planet one day and died.  
  
Usually during the day, Jamie would decide to stop traveling into town and end his conversations with Wolf. He knew that all they ever did was depress him further, but a part of him *needed* the understanding, the person he could freely confide in without feeling petty or stupid. Wolf understood everything the kid was saying, and Jamie could relate perfectly to whatever it was that the older man would tell him. So he returned. Every night that week.  
  
It was on the Tuesday afternoon one week from Jamie's forgotten birthday that Doctor Torros made the announcement regarding their next battle.  
  
"We're up against a three person team called the Stinger Team," he said to the four warriors in the den. "They have three arial Zoids called the Poison Hornets, and are virtually undefeated."  
  
"A challenge," Bit commented. "Sounds cool."  
  
The Doc. went on to explain the basic fighting skills and maneuvers of the Poison Hornets. Jamie tuned him out. He already knew everything the Doc. was saying, having been the person to read up about the Poison Hornets when they were issued the challenge that morning. Basically the trademark weapon on a Poison Hornet was the stinger at the back end, a sort of cannon that shot long, blade-like spears with incredible precision. These spears issued a special electrical surge upon striking someone's Zoid, immediately freezing the computer systems no matter where they hit. The hornets also had incredibly strong outer armor that pretty much no gun was able to penetrate.  
  
"Hm," said Bit, "Spear stingers, huh? Sound's like a job for the Schnider. Blade against blade, you know?"  
  
"That's about what I was thinking," Doctor Torros replied.  
  
"Actually – " Jamie began.  
  
"What," said Leena, "You think you could just cut right through the spear as it's flying or something?"  
  
"Well, yeah. Or the Liger and I could jump up and slice through their wings so they can't fly. That'd put them out of commission," said Bit enthusiastically.  
  
"– the Schnider blades won't do much against the Hornet's armor. It's too strong. But – "  
  
"So what's the prize money on this battle?" asked Brad.  
  
"Class S prize money is about five times the prize money you get from winning in Class A," replied the Doc.  
  
Brad whistled.  
  
"– all that heavy plating makes the Hornet kind of slow and not very maneuverable. So I was thinking – "  
  
"We could also earn a lot of individual points for shooting down arial targets," commented Leena.  
  
"Or slicing them right out of the air," said Bit, cutting his hand through the space in front of him in a spirited gesture of demonstration.  
  
"– it would be best if we used – "  
  
"So when is the battle taking place?" asked Brad.  
  
"Thursday," said Torros. "at one o'clock in the afternoon. The coordinates are on the hover cargo computer; it's in an open field not very far from here."  
  
"Kind of short notice, isn't it?" said Leena.  
  
"– the Jager," Jamie finished in a defeated mumble. He didn't think a single person had heard what he said when he spoke normally anyway. It wasn't like they were actually listening to him.  
  
"That's the whole fun of it," replied Bit excitedly. "To just jump right into the middle of all the action. I'm always ready for a good battle."  
  
"So we're all agreed," said Doctor Torros. "We use the Schnider?"  
  
His question was greeted by three affirmative replies. Jamie stayed silent. No one seemed to notice.  
  
"Good. Bit, you should get the Schnider ready now. You'll want a chance to practice with it before we battle."  
  
"You bet," said Bit ebulliently as he left for the hangar.  
  
Jamie could only sigh.  
  
* * *  
  
That evening found the Blitz Team's strategist walking down the deserted hall toward Doctor Torros's room, carrying the last of the completed paperwork for Thursday's battle in hand. He pushed the button to open the door and hissed through his teeth in exasperation at what he saw.  
  
Torros, the supposed adult in charge around here, was sitting with his back to the door playing with his model Zoids. He held two of them up in the air and, totally unaware that Jamie was standing behind him in the doorway, brought them slamming into each other while making exploding noises through clenched teeth.  
  
"Doc, I've got the – " said Jamie.  
  
"Ka-POW!" the Doc. laughed girlishly, "Go Elephander!"  
  
"Doc, I – "  
  
"That got him for sure!"  
  
"Doc – "  
  
"But look out, here comes the White Blade Liger!"  
  
"*Doc* – "  
  
"Ha HA! Take *this,* Elephander!"  
  
"WILL YOU STOP YOUR PATHETIC ANTICS AND LISTEN TO ME FOR ONCE?" Jamie bellowed, his face flushed crimson. "I'VE GOT THE LAST OF THE PAPERWORK FOR THE BATTLE RIGHT HERE IF YOU AREN'T TOO PREOCCUPIED WITH YOUR STUPID TOYS TO TAKE IT!"  
  
The silence that followed Jamie's outburst was almost deafening. Three people came barreling down the hall and stopped by the door in alarm.  
  
"What happened?" asked Leena, looking from her father back to Jamie. "We could hear you yelling all the way from the hangar."  
  
"That's what I want to know," said Dr. Torros.  
  
Jamie stared at the floor.  
  
"I just came to give you the paperwork," he mumbled. The Doc. took the papers from him but did not sit back down.  
  
"I don't know what's been bothering you, Jamie," Torros began. Jamie scowled. Hadn't he already told them – twice? "But it's been going on almost a week, and frankly I'm getting sick of it. This needs to stop. Why are you so mad at us?"  
  
"Why should I bother to say anything?" Jamie snapped with ugly venom in his voice. "It's not like you'll listen to me if I do."  
  
Leena, Brad and Bit exchanged glances.  
  
"Look," said Dr. Torros, "I'm sorry if we did something to make you angry," Jamie found this very hard to believe, "but you're fourteen years old and – "  
  
"Fifteen," Jamie corrected him with quiet, barely suppressed rage.  
  
No one spoke for a moment.  
  
"What are you talking about, Jamie?" demanded Bit. "You're fourteen."  
  
"No, in fact, I'm not." Jamie's voice shook. He used every ounce of emotional willpower he possessed to hide how much correcting his surrogate family about his age was hurting him. "I'm fifteen."  
  
"But… last Monday we sent our re-registration forms for Class S, and you specifically told them you were fourteen."  
  
Jamie raised his eyebrows ever so slightly, finding himself surprised that Bit even bothered to remember that far back.  
  
"That's because last Monday," he said with a voice that was amazingly steady for one holding so much indignant fury, "I *was* fourteen."  
  
Jamie left that statement hanging for a moment, giving it time to sink in. Then, without looking at anyone, he fled to the hangar as fast as his legs could carry him. Once inside the Raynos, he took off in the same direction he had gone for the past seven evenings, only this time with no thoughts of coming back.  
  
(A/N: I thought about stopping the chapter here, but I thought it would be kind of mean.)  
  
* * *  
  
The sunset painted a breathtaking spectrum of oranges, reds and purples across the backdrop behind the vast desert land and the array of rocky cliffs that this certain ledge towards the edge of the city overlooked. Jamie didn't notice. He sat with his feet dangling over the steep edge, muffling tortured, agonized sobs with his hands. Never in his entire life had he felt so alone.  
  
There was no way he could go back there now. Not now that everybody knew. Things would be so awkward; if they even made the attempt at recognizing the forgotten occasion, it would be some feeble card or something that they only rushed out to get him last second because they didn't want to seem like horrible people. It would be too little far too late, and completely lost of meaning. It had felt good in that moment to sting them with the horrible reality that it was their fault and not his, but now he regretted his impulsiveness and wished he had never told them at all. No one really cared about him as a person; there was no point in attempting to deny it.  
  
/Am I even worth the effort?/  
  
Jamie sobbed so hard his entire body shook. Never in his life had he felt so worthless. He had nowhere to go and not a single person to turn to. No one had come out after him, and he was certain that it would be a very long time, a matter of weeks, before someone decided to come searching for him. Why waste the effort if he was no use to anyone anyway? He could see it all clearly now. All he'd ever been on them was a burden, some stupid wimpy kid holding the team back from its true potential. Why else would he have been the one to do all the laundry and fill out the paperwork – the Blitz team needed him to do *something* useful around the base.  
  
Someone approached him from behind and sat beside him on the concrete ledge. Jamie knew who it was without looking up. He could hear the sound of some sort of case being set down on the ground behind and below where he sat.  
  
Neither Jamie nor Wolf said anything for a few minutes.  
  
"Eagles cry like this all the time, do they, boy?" Wolf asked coldly.  
  
Jamie didn't reply. He couldn't. The tears kept bursting forth and refused to allow him to speak, try as he might to suppress them.  
  
"Look at yerself," Wolf continued without a shred of pity in his voice. "Look what they've done teh yeh. Are Eagles always this weak? Do they always let the others push 'em around like yeh do, Eagle boy?"  
  
Jamie rubbed his eyes so hard he was sure he'd burst them any second now. For the first time he actually wanted Wolf to just go away and leave him alone.  
  
"Look at what they've made outa yeh," said Wolf maliciously. "Look at what yeh've become. All because they just don't understand. They've got yeh here. Nowhere." He paused for a moment. Jamie's quiet hiccups were the only things that disturbed the gloomy silence around them.  
  
"Funny," said Wolf at last. "I always thought yeh were stronger than that."  
  
With that, he climbed down from the ledge and returned to the city, not even giving Jamie the chance to pull himself together and respond. Not that it would have mattered if he did. He was right. Wolf knew it. Jamie knew it. Everything Wolf had said to him was true. He was too weak. Always had been. Weak, pitiful, cowardly… nothing like his crazy counterpart. His alter ego that, according to the Cunning Wolf, had turned out to be what made him so separate from everyone else. Even the Wild Eagle couldn't help him now. He'd gotten himself into this mess, and had found himself without a way out.  
  
Where did he have to go from here?  
  
For some reason Jamie found himself looking down. It hadn't occurred to him until now just how far down the ground below the ledge really was. He scraped off a few tiny pebbles with the back of his shoe and watched them take the endless plunge to the rocky desert floor below.  
  
The thought struck him so quickly that Jamie drew back in fear. All he had to do was push forward… it would be so easy to jump, and get rid of it all. To end the lonely hell-life he was destined for now before he was forced to spend the rest of his days as some pathetic reject. It wouldn't hurt anyone. Who would miss him if he died? Would anyone on the Blitz team even feel bad, knowing that it was mostly them that had brought him to this? He hoped they would. He hoped they would regret everything they had ever done for him, that now their lives could be turned into this agonizing world of remorse and pity for that poor, pathetic child who could never learn to be loved.  
  
The simplicity of it all scared him, and he let himself backward off the ledge into the parking lot. For a moment he leaned back against the concrete wall, panting. It could have been so easy… but he had to prove his weakness once again and chicken out. He didn't even have the strength to give that one push forward and take control of his life at last.  
  
/I don't really want to die./  
  
/But what other hope is there for me?/  
  
/I am worthless. Useless. Alone. No one wants me around anyway./  
  
/So why am I still here?/  
  
He caught sight of a familiar black satchel sitting next to the wall on the gray pavement. Wolf had forgotten it when he left. Jamie reached down with the intention of returning it to the older pilot, and opened the bag without thinking.  
  
Two bottles, a sealed red one and a half filled orange one sat inside. Jamie pulled out and opened the crimson bottle, taking a moment to hold it in trembling hands.  
  
It even *smelled* like strawberries.  
  
Wolf's words floated into his mind. / I stuck around, drank until I couldn't remember my own name every night and enjoyed every minute of it… Only way teh last through the day sometimes./  
  
More tears leaked down his cheeks. Wolf hadn't been able to make it without alcohol, and Wolf was far stronger than he was.  
  
/I really don't want to die./  
  
/But what choice do I have?/  
  
No one would care if he died here. He wasn't in all *that* remote of a place, but most likely no one would discover him here without looking for him until it was too late. If no one was going to be bothered trying to come after him than it was better this way anyway.  
  
Jamie closed his eyes and took a long swig of Wolf's crimson drink. He closed his eyes when he was done and felt his breath rate quicken in fear. He waited for a moment, half expecting some warm explosion to erupt from the pits of his stomach right here and now and kill him. Of course nothing happened. More tears fell.  
  
/Please. Someone come and get me. I don't want to die. Please./  
  
Jamie paused again, waiting for either some savior to enter the parking lot and call his name, or for the poison in his hand to finally turn on him and drag him away from this hell into the next one.  
  
The area was silent and empty.  
  
He took another drink.  
  
END OF CHAPTER FIVE  
  
NEXT CHAPTER: The First Wild Eagle: New hopes enter the scene  
  
A/N: Just wait! It isn't over yet! I specifically said there would be no character death in this story and I am true to my word. Keep reading and REVIEWING (thank you so much BTW to the people who did) and I will get the next chapter up as fast as I possibly can. I don't want to see poor Jamie abandoned in a parking lot any more than you do. 


	6. The First Wild Eagle: New hopes enter th...

DISCLAIMER: I still don't own Zoids or anything or anyone associated with them. Except for the Cunning Wolf, but if anyone would like to use that creepy SOB in one of your stories all you have to do is ask. The rest of the characters belong to Viz and Pioneer. I just use them for my own amusement. I am not making any money off of this. No infringement is intended.  
  
A/N: As usual, reviews are very much appreciated. They make me feel special. : ) They give me the false pretense that I have actual *talent* as a writer. I need that to keep going.  
  
Prism Eclipser: It did. That's the point. Keep reading if you don't get it; this chapter may clear a couple of things up for you.  
  
CHAPTER SIX: The First Wild Eagle: New hopes enter the scene  
  
Zi's two moons fought to continue overlooking the barren landscape in the last hours before sunrise. Pale gray sky peeked in between the blinds of a single room, allowing very few rays of pre-dawn sunlight to spread across the white tiled floor. The artificial lights implanted in the ceiling of the room allowed its occupants to see the features of a boy who's skin was as white as the starch sheets of the bed as he shifted and moaned uncomfortably in his sleep.  
  
"Take of the mask," said the sandy-haired nurse called Gloria in sudden alarm, "I think he's going to be sick again."  
  
The man on the other side of the bed complied and lifted the boy into a sitting position with strong, sturdy arms. He held the boy steady as Gloria held a plastic basin into which Jamie Hemeros coughed and retched, gasping pathetically. Both the man and the nurse noticed that he gave mostly dry heaves; very little actually came up.  
  
After the horrible retching had stopped and the boy's muscles gone limp, the man set him gently back onto the bed and slipped a partially transparent mask over his mouth and nose. Jamie's pasty white forehead was drenched in sweat. Grief contorted the man's features as he wiped it away with a damp cloth.  
  
Save the steady beep of the heart monitor and the clicking noise of the IV machine next to the head of the bed, a somber silence filled the room after Gloria left with the bucket. The man brushed the tips of Jamie's spiky black hair with trembling fingers. The boy didn't stir. Dark gray circles screamed up at the man from under the boy's closed eyes; under the mask it wasn't difficult to see the frown into which Jamie's lips had been pulled in his deep slumber. His arms, almost frightening to look at due to the angry red rash that ran from his wrists to under the pale blue sleeves of his hospital gown, rested on top of the white sheet. An IV needle was stuck in his right hand, and several black wires ran from the heart monitor and the screen keeping track of Jamie's vital signs to his chest underneath the hospital gown. The face mask and the tube connecting it to an oxygen tank by the bed completed the look and made poor Jamie look so fragile that for a moment, the man was almost afraid that breathing too loudly might hurt him.  
  
/Oh, Jamie,/ thought the man. /What happened to you?/  
  
"Don't expect there's much left to come back up," said Gloria, re- entering the room with a clean basin. "But here's this just in case."  
  
"How many times did he throw up?" asked the man.  
  
"Four times in the night, I'm told. But the paramedics also said that they had a small mess to clean up by the boy's side where you found him."  
  
"Oh, I wasn't the one who found him," the man corrected her. "I just got here."  
  
"Did you?"  
  
"Yes. I don't know who found him. It was the Doctor who contacted me."  
  
"If it wasn't you, then I don't know either," replied the nurse. "My shift only started twenty minutes ago."  
  
"I wonder who did," said the man absently. "There was no one else besides the staff here waiting when I arrived." He paused, looking for a moment as though about to say more, but emotion seemed to get the better of him and he closed his mouth, unable to speak.  
  
"Whoever it was," said Gloria, breaking the silence. "This boy owes them his life. The doctors say another five minutes and it would've been too late for sure."  
  
The man nodded, covering his eyes briefly with his hand before speaking. "That's what they told me." Silence. "Will he be all right?"  
  
Gloria pursed her lips. "I don't know. The fact that he's made it this far is certainly a good sign. He certainly hasn't seemed to have gotten any worse in the past five hours or so. But I really don't know."  
  
"What happened, specifically? They told me this was a severe allergic reaction to strawberries and… and alcohol, but they never said how it came about. I want to know," said the man with a sudden intensity, "how a fifteen year old boy got his hands on alcohol in the first place, and what happened to trigger a reaction this bad when Jamie *knows* he can't have strawberries." Gloria tried to keep what she hoped was a reassuring expression on her face. This poor man was looking so angry and so hurt at the same time, that she could only imagine what it must be like to be in his position right now.  
  
"I can tell you," she said gently, "That he is most likely *not* an experienced drinker. His definite separate allergy to alcohol proves that." The man nodded, seeming slightly if at all comforted. "How he got a hold of it, I couldn't tell you. All I know is, he was found unconscious in the parking lot by the edge of town. There was an open and unlabeled black bag nearby and a red bottle on the ground next to him. The medics think he was holding it when he fell unconscious. There wasn't even an inch of liquid left at the bottom of the bottle, they said. Some of our people took a look at it. It's nothing he could have bought anywhere in town, that's for sure. They said it was some kind of mixture of different vodkas, natural strawberry juice and crushed strawberries. No one knows where he got it."  
  
"Every ingredient in that bottle was something he's allergic to," said the man in a quiet trance. Gloria nodded.  
  
"From his… the contents of his stomach," she began carefully, watching the man's expression and trying to remain tactful, "The doctors think that he drank almost the entire bottle, and it held a little more than a full liter of liquid."  
  
Jamie stirred quietly on the bed; instantly the man was standing over him with concern written all over his features.  
  
"What's wrong?" he asked the nurse. "Is he going to be sick again?"  
  
"I don't think so," Gloria replied, shaking her head. "I think he's just shifting in his sleep. His vital signs all look the same."  
  
A new layer of sweat had formed, sticking Jamie's dark hair wetly to his ashen forehead. The man wiped it away gently with the cloth.  
  
"How's his fever?" he asked as he dampened as much of Jamie's hot face as the mask would allow.  
  
Gloria took a look at the numbers on the green screen by the bed. Down in the bottom corner, they read 104.3°.  
  
"No change," she replied. "But his pulse has picked up by one beat. That's a good sign, at least."  
  
The man gave a very slight nod, not taking his eyes off the invalid boy.  
  
"Do you want to want to get some rest?" Gloria asked him gently. "I'm sure we can find a bed for you very near to the ICU, and I can come and find you if anything changes."  
  
The man shook his head in reply. "No, thank you. I'd rather stay with him until I know for sure if he's going to be okay."  
  
Gloria nodded, and soon the room fell back into its previous silence. The man took Jamie's frail, clammy hand into his own and let it rest there. He silently willed the boy's eyes to open, but there was no change in him.  
  
/What happened to you?/ The same anguished question kept running through his mind. Jamie knew, he *knew* that his allergy to strawberries was one to be taken seriously; he knew that too severe a reaction had the potential to kill him. To drink a whole bottle… one whole liter… and vodka? The man found himself hoping that Jamie hadn't previously discovered his intolerance to alcohol, but still… he was fifteen…  
  
/Why, Jamie, why?/  
  
Presently, the door opened and admitted a tall man with dark hair and a white robe. He carried a clipboard and wore a somber expression on his tan face.  
  
"I'm glad you could make it so quickly," he said gravely. "Have you noticed any change in him?"  
  
The seated man shook his head, and the doctor took the initiative to take a look at the number screen. All was silent again as he looked from the screen readings to his clipboard, pausing every so often to write something down.  
  
"There has been very little change in his vital signs over the past hour," he said to Gloria and the man when he had finished. "Overall, he appears to be stable. The only changes that I've noticed are very small, but they are all improvements. I wouldn't say we are out of the woods quite yet, but I think that his complete recovery is quite likely."  
  
This drew a very slight smile out of the somber man. He nodded curtly.  
  
"Thank you, Dr. Goman."  
  
"I'll be in touch. Gloria knows how to contact me if anything happens. In the meantime, keep cooling his forehead with the cloth; you may want to change the water if it seems to be getting warm. There is very little else you can do except hope and wait and pray.  
  
He left the room with a swish of the mechanical doorway. The man took his other hand and covered Jamie's cold one so that it was sandwiched gently between both of his own hands. He hoped. He waited. He prayed.  
  
Jamie continued to slumber fitfully in the rising sunlight but did not wake.  
  
END CHAPTER SIX  
  
NEXT CHAPTER: Tears and Confessions: Jamie begins to find peace in the world  
  
A/N: This may have been a little confusing, but feel free to REVIEW if you have questions and REVIEW even if you don't. Just don't ask who 'the man' is because it will become clear in the next chapter if you haven't figured it out already. Kudos if you can guess. I don't think it's that hard. 


	7. Tears and Confessions: Jamie begins to f...

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Zoids or anything or anyone associated with them. The Cunning Wolf, Gloria and Dr. Goman are my characters, but if anyone would like to use them in a story just ask. Everybody and everything else belongs to Viz and Pioneer. I just use them for my own amusement. I am not making any money off of this. No infringement is intended.  
  
A/N: This chapter may be a little hard to follow at times, because it's going to switch points of view. I tried to make it clear, but just know that that's going to be happening.  
  
CHAPTER SEVEN: Tears and Confessions: Jamie begins to finds peace in the world  
  
As Jamie surfaced slowly into the world of consciousness, he began to get the sensation of one sitting on some sort of spinning top. Invisible flames licked his skin all over and he flinched inward at the heat. His stomach began to churn; he felt so dizzy… so weak… too feeble to open his eyes or move his arms or do anything except give a weak groan. He gave a start when the sound was muffled by… something… on his face. Something covering his mouth and nose. Jamie began to panic. He squirmed in the bed and groaned loudly, trying with trembling fingers to pry off this thing off.  
  
The man sat up quickly in response to the raspy moan coming form the boy on the bed. Poor Jamie was writhing in his sheets, his white face twitching into expressions of extreme discomfort. The man's heart jumped when Jamie's gray eyes opened a crack and quickly snapped shut. Was he waking up? The man leaned as far over the stirring boy as he dared and whispered something into his ear.  
  
"Jamie." Jamie gave a start as a familiar voice washed over him. Through the world of fever-induced fire and spinning darkness someone he knew very well was trying to reach him. He tried to speak, but that horrible thing on his face kept the sound inside and Jamie knew he wasn't heard. Someone lifted it off for him with strong but gentle fingers.  
  
Oh. Pteras on his chest. Hard to breathe. Hard to think. Really dizzy now. Jamie pried open his chapped lips and tried to speak, but only a scratchy moan came from the back of his sandpaper-lined throat. He slowly opened his eyes and squinted at the whirling scene before him.  
  
He found himself looking down… no up… no… was he on the ceiling? It was hard to tell. A heavily blurred but still very familiar face loomed in front of him for a moment. It divided into two and then three and then many fuzzy tan and brown blurs. They spun and whirled and danced around him as the world continued in its sickening circles. Jamie tried to keep his gaze on that face.  
  
"D-da... d-d-dad?"  
  
The faces all nodded. Jamie closed his eyes, continuing to pant heavily, and began to cry. Not out of sorrow or depression or even out of relief, but out of sheer physical and emotional exhaustion. His weak mind could barely grasp the memory of what happened last night, but all the pain and all the suffering and everything he had felt for the past week came crashing to his shoulders at once. Someone lifted him into a gentle but lovingly encasing bear hug. Jamie let the refreshing tears fall, soaking the shoulder of a familiar leather jacket.  
  
Oscar Hemeros held his son as tightly as he could without hurting him. He ran a comforting hand across Jamie's back and let the poor boy sob into his shoulder. Tears began to prick at the back of his own eyes; the result of a thousand conflicting emotions running through his mind at once. Something was very wrong here. Hard as these reactions normally were on his son, Jamie should not have been this emotionally drained. There was something behind all of this that Oscar felt he seriously needed to know.  
  
But at least the boy was alive.  
  
Oscar stroked his son's black hair and held him close. "It's all right," he whispered into Jamie's ear. "You're going to be okay, son. Just rest. You're going to be fine now."  
  
Jamie let his sobs and the fresh tears fall into his father's shoulder. It felt so good to let loose all his pent-up emotions and just cry into the most comforting embrace he had been given in a long time. He felt his dad's hand on his back and knew at once that he was loved, that there was hope for him in this world after all. A weak smile played at his lips, while at the same time more tears continued to seep into his dad's shoulder.  
  
After a while, Jamie's weak sobs slowed to a stop and he fell once again limp in his dad's protective embrace. Oscar set his son very carefully back onto the bed and slipped the mask over his mouth and nose. He rubbed his eyes with his hand and listened to the even breathing coming from Jamie's chest as it rose and fell in his healing slumber.  
  
Gloria covered her mouth and nose with her hand. She closed her eyes and tried to conceal their unusual wetness. The scene that had just played itself for her, the reuniting embrace between father and son, was perhaps the most touching thing she had ever seen in her time working at the hospital. She knew it was unwise to become emotionally attached to her patients, but the tenderness on that man's face as he lifted and set down his son and the utter frailty of the boy's sobs just ripped her heart out and made remaining distant a difficult task indeed.  
  
She looked up to a hand on her shoulder. Dr. Goman gave her a grim but understanding smile.  
  
"Mr. Hemeros," he said to the boy's father. "If you don't mind, now that the boy is out of danger, I have some concerns that I wish to discuss with you regarding the nature of this particular reaction."  
  
Oscar nodded grimly. He knew this was coming.  
  
"Mr. Hemeros," Dr. Goman began tactfully, "The fact is, there is simply no way the boy could *not* have realized that the drink in that bottle contained strawberries. There was a picture of a strawberry imprinted on the cover of the bottle, the smell of even the empty bottle is distinct and very easy to identify, and there is enough natural strawberry juice in there that we are most certain the taste is unmistakable. That alone has certain implications to it, as well as the fact that the drink was a very strong alcoholic beverage that he could not have obtained anywhere in either this town or the next one. There was no sign of a struggle at the sight in which he was found, so we must assume that he took in that drink wittingly."  
  
Oscar nodded again. God, what he'd have done to the culprit if Jamie had been forced that drink.  
  
"It seems to me," Dr. Goman continued carefully, "As it does the paramedics who handled the boy and the nurses we have had assigned to his case, that the boy was making… a deliberate attempt – to do himself harm."  
  
Now that the idea had been thrust out into the open, it was impossible to avoid or suppress. Oscar closed his eyes, flinching as the utter seriousness of it all finally hit him.  
  
"Has Jamie – recently seemed unhappy with his position on the team?"  
  
Oscar shook his head. "I'd have pulled him off the team immediately if I knew he didn't like it there."  
  
"Has there been any change in him that you noticed that last time you spoke with him?"  
  
"None that I noticed. He seemed really happy to see me, but other than that, no."  
  
"When was the last time you spoke with him?"  
  
"Last Tuesday. I contacted the Torros base and spoke to him that way, because it was his birthday and I knew I wasn't going to be able to see him in person this year."  
  
"Who first received your message?"  
  
"Jamie did."  
  
"Is that – unusual?"  
  
"No. Jamie tends to be the one who answers messages and works with the Hover Cargo's computer systems."  
  
"Has he ever expressed unhappiness at his job?"  
  
"I said *no*," said Oscar angrily. "Look, I told you that if I had any idea this was going on, I would have taken him off the Blitz team right away."  
  
"I know that, Mr. Hemeros," Dr. Goman replied calmly. "I'm just trying to find out what went wrong here."  
  
"Well, I don't know anything about it," Oscar snapped, "I love my son. He's the only family I have left. I don't know what I'd do if I lost him. I had no idea there was anything wrong. I wouldn't have just sat here waiting around for Jamie to kill himself if I did, nor would I have done anything to push him to this level."  
  
"I'm not accusing you of anything. You had no idea anything was wrong, and that's all I needed to know."  
  
Oscar watched his sleeping son sadly. "Can you help him?" he asked the Doctor quietly.  
  
"That's what I'm here for. I will certainly do everything I can. What I would like to do is speak with the guardian of the Blitz team, Dr. Torros, and possibly the other members and the people he sees on a regular basis. However, it is a policy here that only immediate family can visit patients in this Intensive Care Unit, and I would like to keep him here until at least he is able to breathe comfortably on his own. Considering the obvious emotional stress the boy has been under, I will not ask Jamie any questions without your consent. I would, however, ask you to speak to him when he wakes up. Ask him to tell you what happened. The best way we can help your son is to learn why he felt there was no other way and try to help him sort things out."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"You are perfectly welcome, Mr. Hemeros. Now, may I suggest something to help *you*?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"That you go down to our hospital cafeteria and eat something. Or leave the building and find someplace to get your breakfast. Then take your Zoid out for a fly – I believe you own a Pteras?" Oscar nodded. "You'll be amazed at how much better you will feel if you do."  
  
"I'd rather just stay here with – " Oscar started to reply.  
  
"I must insist upon this, Mr. Hemeros. I can guarantee you to things: one, that your son will make a complete recovery, and there is little to almost no chance of anything happening to hinder that; and two, he will not wake up any time within the next two or three hours. Jamie is one very sick and very exhausted young man and he will most likely not awaken before you return. You'll be surprised at the good it will do you."  
  
Oscar didn't reply for a moment. He finally nodded and stood reluctantly to leave.  
  
* * *  
  
"Excuse me," said Bit to the gray-haired receptionist. She looked up tiredly.  
  
"Yes? May I help you?"  
  
"We're here to see Jamie. Jamie Hemeros."  
  
She took a moment to look over a clipboard lying on top of her desk before raising her eyes to the young man with wild blond hair and the three dejected looking people standing behind him.  
  
"Are you family?"  
  
*Hardly,* Bit thought darkly. "No. We're his teammates."  
  
"Then I'm sorry. Only immediate family and hospital staff are allowed to visit him right now."  
  
"What?" Bit cried angrily. "Why?"  
  
"It's hospital policy, young man," the receptionist replied. "He's in Intensive Care, and unless you are directly related to the boy, I can't let you in the room with him."  
  
"Intensive Care?" gasped the Doc.  
  
"But he's okay, isn't he?" demanded Leena.  
  
"I don't know. All I know is what's written here, and his father is the only person not employed here who's allowed to visit him right now."  
  
"Where is his father?" asked Dr. Torros. "Can we talk to him?"  
  
"I can send for him. Please wait a moment," she answered, pressing a button on the desktop. A woman's voice answered over a speaker.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"I have four people out here asking to see the boy's father," said the receptionist into the speakerphone.  
  
"Oscar Hemeros is out at the moment," the voice replied. "I'm sorry, you'll have to come back later."  
  
"No way!" shouted Bit. "Can't we at least see him?"  
  
"I'm sorry, sir. You'll have to wait until – "  
  
"But what about Jamie? Is going to be okay or not? We didn't come all the way down here just to have you tell us nothing and send us away!"  
  
"He'll recover," the woman's voice replied. "He's a very lucky kid."  
  
The blond haired boy flinched at the last comment. The receptionist found it odd that he was the one to do most of the talking, while the older man stood behind and gazed down the side hallway with an expression that seemed heavily laden with sorrow and remorse. Something seemed to be deeply troubling that poor man, as well as the rest of them. The young man with the brown hair said nothing; he just kept his arms folded and scowled through the floor as though intending to set it on fire. The girl with the raspberry hair mirrored the man in expression, but she kept looking this way and that around the hospital lobby. The blond boy himself seemed as emotionally tortured as the rest of them, though he looked like he was doing his best to hide it.  
  
"Look," she said gently. "I can show you to the window outside his room and have Gloria draw the curtain for a moment and let you look at him."  
  
"Really?" said Bit.  
  
"Sure. Right this way."  
  
Bit kept his gaze straight ahead as they started down the hall of the ICU, trying his best to avoid looking at the people on gurneys, with bloody injuries and mangled and discolored features of every possible sort. People hooked up to more machines than were present in his Liger, fighting with every passing moment to stay alive. It was far too easy to see Jamie in their position, only his spiked black hair recognizable over the rest of him. *With no one to blame except us if he died,* he thought bitterly.  
  
Jamie didn't look as bad as some of the patients they had seen, but his limp form on the bed struck a dagger into Bit's heart that hurt more than any Zoid battle. To think that they had done this to him… Why couldn't he have seen this coming? Why hadn't they remembered?  
  
*Oh God, I'm so sorry, Jamie,* Bit thought as a single tear slipped down his cheek. *If I'd only known… if I had any idea…*  
  
He stole a glance at the Doc and the others, hoping with a dark satisfaction that at least they were feeling as bad as he was, if not worse. The Doc looked at least ten years older than usual. His wrinkled features sagged with regret and his tired eyes gazed regretfully through the glass. Tears were streaming down Leena's cheeks; the usually too-tough- to-handle warrior and trigger-happy maniac didn't bother to wipe them away. Brad's expression hadn't changed since that morning: the same fierce scowl covered his face and he refused to show emotion.  
  
Bit's eyebrows narrowed in anger. Were they finally getting it? Did they finally understand what they'd done to this poor kid? Bit wasn't going to let them shrug it off this time. He'd realized from the start that Jamie wasn't exactly one of the more respected members of the team, but to completely forget his birthday like that... Wasn't the Doc at the very least required by *law* to know when Jamie's birthday was? The kid hadn't yet turned sixteen, and the Doc as his legal guardian was responsible for this stuff. And as his father's best friend, he *had* to know.  
  
Dr. Torros looked up and caught Bit's fierce glare. He flinched and looked away.  
  
*How could you do this to him?* thought Bit.  
  
The nurse they had spoken to over the phone came out into the hall and told them quietly that their time was up; she was going to close the curtain and they needed to leave. No one argued. They didn't even say anything to one another as they left the hospital.  
  
Bit scowled into the horizon. Jamie was going to be okay. He'd been lucky. The Doc and the others and even *he* had nearly killed the poor boy, just because they'd done nothing. It almost made him sick.  
  
*I wish you could see how sorry I am, Jamie,* he thought in anguish. *I never meant for this to happen to you. Ever.*  
  
*I'm so sorry.*  
  
(A/N: Please note that Bit has not been a member of the Blitz team long enough to have been around when they celebrated Jamie's last birthday, so he is the only person who truly doesn't know when it is.)  
  
* * *  
  
Jamie groaned weakly and pried his heavy eyes open. The room wasn't spinning quite as heavily now, but the flames were still enough to make him want to fall right back into the soothing comforts of sleep.  
  
A dark form sharpened into view. But it wasn't the familiar, comforting form of his father. A high-collared, black leather jacket and long raspberry hair towered over him ominously. Jamie would have gulped had he the strength.  
  
Wolf.  
  
The older man glared downward in a way that was almost frightening. It was a moment before he spoke.  
  
"Yeh disappoint me, Eagle boy," he said coldly. "I'd have thought Wild Eagles were stronger than that. Do true, strong psychies land themselves here like this? Look at yeh. Weak. Sickly. Alone."  
  
The mask wouldn't let him reply. Tears sprang to his eyes again. Why wouldn't Wolf take it off for him and let him speak? Jamie was far too ill to do it himself. Where was his dad? Where was the nurse? Weren't they the people who cared about him? Jamie turned his head to the side on the bed and tried to look for them, but Wolf blocked his view of most of the area he was able to see from this position.  
  
"It's no use, boy," Wolf spat. "There's no one else here. Just me. As usual. Did yeh really think they'd come here to see yeh after all that?"  
  
Jamie tried to move his hands, tried to get this stupid mask off so that he could tell Wolf differently. He wanted to tell Wolf that his father truly had been here, though Wolf would only ask where he was now and why he'd left, an Jamie couldn't answer either of those questions. But he had been here. Jamie had seen him.  
  
Or had he merely been hallucinating?  
  
Jamie heard the door open behind the scary older man. If Wolf heard it too, he didn't give any sign of it. He continued to give Jamie his cold, penetrating stare. Jamie cowered in his sheets.  
  
Wolf opened his mouth to speak.  
  
"Ha – "  
  
"You."  
  
Jamie started. He closed his eyes and nearly cried with relief. That voice, that warm, familiar voice announced the entrance of a man who could finally help him.  
  
"You."  
  
Wolf turned around slowly. Jamie caught a glimpse of a brown jacket in the doorway.  
  
"S'been a while," said Wolf. Was that nervousness in his voice?  
  
"Get out."  
  
"Not happy teh see me? After all this time?"  
  
"Get away from him. Now." There was a cold threat to that voice. Jamie closed his eyes and smiled under his mask.  
  
"What's the matter – "  
  
"I said *now.* Stay. Away. From. Him."  
  
Wolf didn't reply. Oscar Hemeros had a fiercely cold glare on his face as he appeared over Wolf's shoulder.  
  
"Get out of here. And stay out. If I see your face here again, I swear to Zi that I'll call the police on you. You keep away from my son. Get out of here. Now."  
  
"If that's what yeh – "  
  
"*NOW!*"  
  
Wolf obeyed, and Oscar turned to his son, his face softening considerably.  
  
"Jamie?" he whispered to the weeping boy. "Oh God. If I had known. If I'd only… are you all right?" Jamie nodded and felt himself again swept up into a tight embrace.  
  
"He won't hurt you again, Jamie," whispered Oscar. "I promise."  
  
END CHAPTER SEVEN  
  
NEXT CHAPTER: Tears and Confessions, Part II: It all finally comes together. 


	8. Tears and Confessions, Part II: It all f...

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Zoids or anything associated with them. The Cunning Wolf, Gloria and Dr. Goman are my characters. If you want to use them in a story I'll probably say yes, but just ask anyway. Everything else that has to do with Zoids belongs to Viz and Pioneer. I just use them for my own weird little ideas. I am not making any money off of this. No infringement is intended.  
  
A/N: This is getting a lot longer than I thought it would. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR STICKING WITH ME AND REVIEWING! I really appreciate it!  
  
Yuuki-Chan: Really? *grin and blush* Thank you. I'm flattered. That is just so cool that people think that about me. I never had any confidence in myself as a writer. I hoped you enjoyed the rest of story just as much.  
  
CHAPTER EIGHT: Tears and Confessions, Part II: It all finally comes together  
  
Bit sat for the longest time on the blue couch in the den, scowling fiercely at the opposite wall. Few entered the room while he was there; those who did said nothing and were quick to leave. They knew better than to try to talk to him right now.  
  
He didn't speak. He didn't move. He barely even blinked.  
  
Zi, he hated himself for what they'd done. He felt like the lowest form of life in the galaxy. It was only a grim satisfaction to know that at the very least the Doc. and the others were finally beginning to come to their senses and understand the seriousness of it all.  
  
With every ounce of hatred building in him towards the remaining members of the Blitz team, Bit felt an equal weight of grievous regret build upon his heart. He'd been a part of this as much as the rest of them had. To deny that would be to let the whole scenario repeat itself.  
  
Jamie might not be so lucky that time.  
  
Zi, what he'd have done to himself if Jamie died. It would have been far too much for him to bear. Jamie never deserved any of that. That poor kid deserved far more than anyone, Bit included, ever bothered to give him. For all he'd done for the team, the chores, the cooking, the paperwork, the strategies… he'd given everything he had for them, and what had anyone ever given him in return? Nothing. Oh, wait. There was the Raynos. After, of course, the Doc. up and traded in Jamie's prized Pteras without warning. No second thoughts on the matter. Why couldn't he just get over his blind obsession for these Zoids and see the more important matters in front of his face?  
  
Why hadn't any of them?  
  
That past week had been so hard, and not just on Jamie. Bit had found it hard to push the young strategist from his mind after that first incident with alcohol. He had seen it in Leena's eyes a little bit, too; however it was always impossible to tell what Brad was thinking and feeling, and the Doc. had just passed it off as a phase. Something about it hadn't seemed right to Bit. Ever since he'd run across Jamie in the hallway that evening one week ago, he'd known deep down that there was something going on with the young Wild Eagle that he wasn't telling them. He closed his eyes and allowed the frightening memories to wash him over.  
  
** "Jamie! Where on Zi have you been? We've been looking all over for you! Do you know how worried we've been? Zi, I thought something had happened to you! What made you just leave like that? Sheesh, you never even said anything! I was so worried about you! I was about ready to take the Liger out and come find you!" **  
  
His memory of that evening was a choppy one, quick flashes of the more intense moments taking him back and reminding him of how scared he'd truly been.  
  
** "Jamie? Jamie, are you okay?" Bit's voice rose and shook in alarm. There was something very wrong about the look on his young comrade's face as he emptied his dinner into the basin. Something much more serious than a stomach bug.  
  
"Jamie, what's wrong? Jamie? *Jamie!*" His cry became a terrified shout as a flicker of something like pain crossed Jamie's pale olive features and his eyes rolled back into his head. In a flash, Bit was at the boy's side, grabbing him by his shoulder and keeping his head from smacking against the toilet bowl by merely an inch.  
  
"JAMIE! DOC, BRAD, LEENA, SOMEBODY HELP!" **  
  
Bit shuddered. Since that moment, there hadn't been a time when he could truly rest assured that Jamie was okay. He'd physically recovered, sure, but since that night there had been something different, something missing from him. He was angry at everything and everyone, all for no apparent reason. And he kept disappearing…  
  
One of those nights, Bit had followed the Raynos in his Liger Zero to see just what it was that Jamie was up to in town these days. He'd seen Jamie disappear into a restaurant, and although he hadn't actually gone inside, he'd taken a good look at the strange man the boy was sitting with. Nobody he'd ever seen before. Something about the man that he couldn't explain creeped him out, but he didn't want to interfere with Jamie's personal affairs as long as the kid was okay, especially if anything these days would set him off the edge.  
  
He'd only followed Jamie once more after that.  
  
Bit's eyes shut again. He flinched in invisible pain.  
  
** "Jamie? Jamie! Oh Zi, no, JAMIE! Oh Zi. Oh God. No! Don't let me be too late, please, Jamie, don't be dead. Wake up, come on, wake up, Jamie! Please! I can't lose you! Oh, Zi, Jamie. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. What happened to you?  
  
"Can we get some help over here? Somebody call an ambulance! Please, hurry! This kid will die if we don't help him!  
  
"Jamie, listen to me. I know you can't hear me, but hang in there. Just hold on. Zi, I'm so sorry, Jamie. You're going to be okay. I'll make sure you are. You're going to the hospital. You'll be okay. Please. Be okay." **  
  
* * *  
  
The Pteras didn't land on his chest nearly as hard this time when Oscar slipped the mask off of Jamie's face. Jamie rubbed his eye with the back of his hand and gave his father a weak smile.  
  
"You know… know him?" he whispered weakly.  
  
Oscar nodded grimly.  
  
Jamie gasped all of a sudden. He stared at the arm in front of his face in horror and ran his fingers along the angry red bumps that screamed at him from his olive complexion.  
  
"M-my," he gasped, "My arms…"  
  
"Shh," Oscar hushed his son gently. "It's just a rash. It'll fade. You probably shouldn't talk too much. You look exhausted." Oscar sighed, "Sadly yes, I do know him. The Cunning Wolf," he said venomously, "I'd have thought he'd be dead by now."  
  
The door swished open to admit a tall, dark haired man with a white doctor's coat and a different nurse, a young woman with short, dark hair. He smiled when he saw the boy in bed.  
  
"Hello, Jamie," he said. His voice was quiet, but friendly. "It's good to see you finally awake." He took a moment to copy some numbers off the green screen by the bed onto a clipboard. "Your vital signs have picked up since I last saw you. You seem to be headed toward a complete recovery, though that may take a couple of days. Are you nauseous at all?" Jamie shook his head. "Hungry?" Jamie shook his head quickly and the Doctor chuckled. "Just asking. Are you dizzy at all? Lightheaded?"  
  
"A little," Jamie croaked.  
  
"Well, that's to be expected. You don't feel like you're going to faint anytime soon, do you?" Jamie shook his head. "Good. Any other complaints you wish to tell me about?"  
  
"My arms itch," Jamie replied hoarsely.  
  
Doctor Goman gave him a friendly smile. "He's still slightly disoriented," he said to the new nurse by his side in an undertone. "That's perfectly normal. Anything else?" Jamie shook his head.  
  
"Then it looks like we're just going to have to kick you out. You'll be moved to the pediatric ward in the morning, where your father will be able to sleep on a cot in the same room with you. You'll also be allowed any visitors you and your father would like to have come see you."  
  
Jamie gave a very weak smile that the Doctor returned. "You are one very lucky young man, Mr. Hemeros," he said, "You do realize that." Jamie nodded slowly.  
  
"I'm sorry," he whispered.  
  
Dr. Goman waved his hand dismissively, "Please, don't be. Nothing that happened is your fault. I don't want you to feel responsible for any of this, because you're not."  
  
Jamie nodded slowly.  
  
"Just a few minutes ago," said the Doctor to Oscar and his son, "I noticed a man leaving this room. Fairly quickly, in fact. I was wondering if there was anything you or your father would like to tell me about him?"  
  
"I will," replied Oscar. Jamie nodded his consent, grateful to let someone else speak.  
  
"I met the Cunning Wolf, as he called himself, a very long time ago, years before Jamie was born. It was just after a fight had brewed between two of my closest friends, a fight I had accidentally caused that still separates them today. I felt absolutely terrible at the time for starting the mess – still do, actually – and I was at a bar by myself when I met him. We talked for a very long time, and there was something about him that I just – connected to. I can't explain it. He understood me and my problems and what I was going through, better than anyone else could. I liked speaking with him.  
  
"Nearly every night after that, we met and talked together in that same bar. We'd have a few drinks, and we'd talk about… things in general, and… I can't really explain it. It was like he understood everything I ever told him better than anyone else. After a while I started feeling like there was no one else I really *could* connect to, just because Wolf understood me so well. A rift started growing between me and all my friends. I felt like I didn't really matter to them anymore. Like they were all mad at me for what I'd done and they couldn't get over it. But none of it was really true.  
  
"He was manipulating me, and doing it well. I felt so depressed, so worthless from talking to him, but after a while he was the only person I could talk to, so I had to keep going back to him. He was good at it. Good at manipulating people to think what he wanted them to think. I never suspected him of anything at all." Oscar paused for a moment, scowling at the painful memories. Jamie was crying silently into the pillow; Oscar took his son's hand and squeezed it comfortingly.  
  
"Within five weeks he had me convinced that I had no friends, that everything that happened was my fault and everyone hated me for it. Within five weeks he had me convinced that I was better off dead, that the whole world was better off without me.  
  
"One afternoon, I took my Raynos out and tried to fly it straight into the side of a nearby cliff. I would have succeeded, if some strange old man in a Gunsniper hadn't shot me out of the sky before I reached the cliff face.  
  
"I was knocked out by the crash, and when I came to I was in a bed in what I later learned was the Gunsniper pilot's house. He told me that the Cunning Wolf – he also told me the guy's real name, but I don't remember it – had been a member of his team many years earlier. Apparently, Wolf was a horrible person to be around; he was always trying to manipulate people to get what he wanted. The man told me that that's how Wolf ended up on their team in the first place. His personality was sly and cowardly, he knew exactly what to say to get people to think and feel what he wanted them to.  
  
"According to this man, the Cunning Wolf was the name that at first he only used when he fought in Zoid battles. He said that during the rare battles in which Wolf fought, his shrewd and manipulative personality would do a complete turn-around and he was actually not too bad of a warrior. But outside of Zoid battle, he was a twisted, all-around terrible person and no one liked him because of it.  
  
"Wolf must have had a very lonely, painful kind of life. The man told me that these days, Wolf goes around meeting people and turning their lives into the exact kind of life he lived, the kind of life into which he changed mine. Maybe he gets some sort of twisted satisfaction from seeing people suffering emotionally; maybe he wants to see them commit suicide because he never had the strength to do it himself. Whatever his reason, it's sick, it's evil and if I'd had *any* idea he'd somehow gotten a hold of my son, I would have come down here in a second. No one, *no one* deserves that."  
  
A long, shocked silence followed Oscar's speech. Dr. Goman and the new nurse stood completely still, their mouths open and absolutely speechless. Poor Jamie was close to sobbing again. Oscar lifted him up and hugged him, rubbing one hand up and down his back consolingly.  
  
"That's sick," whispered the nurse hoarsely, shaking her head. "That's just… sick. That man needs to be put in jail or… or something… that's just not normal."  
  
"Or a hospital," said Dr. Goman. "A psychiatric ward. That man has some serious issues. He's killing people. That's the bottom line. He's putting them through some of the worst kinds of pain imaginable, then killing them. It's wrong. Is this the same man you've been associating with, Jamie?"  
  
Jamie nodded. "He… he told me he w-was an alter-ego pilot, l-like me," the boy rasped through sobs.  
  
"He's nothing like you," Oscar replied sharply. "You're worth so much more than he says you are. You've always been the shy one, the giver, the sweet boy who thinks of everyone else before himself. You're nothing like he is. Remember that. You are my son, and you mean everything to me. You always will. No matter what."  
  
"I'm sorry," Jamie whispered.  
  
"Don't be. This isn't your fault. You did nothing wrong. How long have you been meeting him for?"  
  
"A week," Jamie mumbled feebly.  
  
"A week?" Oscar drew back in alarm. "Just one week? Are you sure?"  
  
"Is that… bad?"  
  
"No, no, that's not what I mean. Jamie, did something else happen to you?"  
  
Jamie closed his eyes and sank his head further back into the pillow. He was so tired all of a sudden…  
  
"Jamie, stay with me for a second. I need to know. Was there something else besides Wolf that made you do this?"  
  
Jamie opened a weary eye. Oscar was watching him with the utmost concern.  
  
"They forgot my birthday," he said weakly.  
  
"They- they *what*?" Oscar gasped. "The Blitz team?"  
  
Jamie nodded. "I went out alone that night," he continued breathlessly, "And I met him."  
  
Oscar said nothing. He sat back hard in his seat, thunderstruck. He couldn't speak. They… they forgot? Just forgot? But how? Torros knew Jamie's birthday, didn't he? He had certainly better. But that would mean… How could they? Poor Jamie. How could they do this to him? Why? What happened? Torros. Was this partially his fault? Oscar clenched his teeth in a sudden spurt of anger. Torros would be hearing about this, all right. Had the older Wild Eagle not been so intent on sticking by Jamie's side he would have marched right up to that base here and now and demanded an explanation. It's what he should have done in the very first place. Nobody did this to his son and got away with it. Nobody.  
  
"I don't want to see them," Jamie gasped. "Please. I don't want them to see me."  
  
"Your teammates?" asked Dr. Goman gently.  
  
Jamie nodded. Tears leaked out of the corner of his eyes. "I don't want to see them. I can't."  
  
Dr. Goman acknowledged this with a nod. "That's fine. Now you go back to sleep. You're exhausted and you need your rest. We'll take care of it."  
  
The poor kid was out within a minute. Oscar remained speechless.  
  
"I can't let him leave the hospital," said the Doctor somberly. "Even after he has made a complete physical recovery, I don't think I'm going to be able to let him go. He may end up staying here for a while. By law and by personal convictions, I simply cannot let him return to the base. This boy needs our help. You understand why I can't."  
  
Oscar nodded.  
  
"You may stay here with him as long as needed." Dr. Goman started for the door. "I'll see to having him moved in the morning."  
  
"You can help him, can't you?"  
  
The Doctor was silent for a moment. "We'll do what we can. As far as I can see, yes. Most of it will depend on you. He needs you right now. He needs to be loved."  
  
"I'll do whatever you or he needs me to do," said Oscar sharply. "Whatever it takes."  
  
There was a short pause.  
  
"Then yes, Mr. Hemeros, we can. And we will."  
  
* * *  
  
"Room 107," said Dr. Torros to his daughter and the two young men behind her. They paused at a closed silver door near the end of the hallway, and the Doc. pressed a red button beside the frame.  
  
The door slid open and Oscar Hemeros's hard glare greeted all four of them.  
  
"Oscar!" said the Doc brightly.  
  
"Torros," the former Raynos pilot responded coldly. The Doc faltered.  
  
"Jamie isn't seeing people," said Oscar tonelessly.  
  
"That's what they told us at the front desk," said Brad. "That's why we pushed the call button."  
  
"So, what can I do for you?"  
  
"We came to visit Jamie," said Leena. "He'll let us in, won't he?"  
  
"You're the people he specifically asked *not* to see," Oscar replied glacially.  
  
"What?" Leena gasped.  
  
"You heard me. I think you know perfectly well why."  
  
Bit covered his eyes with his hand and bowed his head. His heart ached terribly for the poor man. They had nearly killed his son, people unto whom he had entrusted Jamie's care and guardianship. Sure, he knew that Jamie had been 'earning his keep' around the base, but he'd probably had no idea of the details. Not even the Doc was childish enough to try to excuse the way they'd treated Jamie in front of the boy's father. Bit desperately wanted to tell the man he was sorry; he wanted more than anything to find Jamie and apologize in person and to do everything within his power to more than make up for what had happened.  
  
Though it might already be too late.  
  
Liger Zero's pilot didn't know what he'd do to himself if he never got the chance to get the message to Jamie of how sorry he was.  
  
"But if you're his father," Dr. Torros persisted, "Aren't you allowed to let us in even if Jamie says no?"  
  
Bit clenched his teeth and fought back the urge to give the Doc a good kick in a place he'd never forget. He was pretty sure that Oscar felt the same way. If that's what it took to get him to finally understand…  
  
The look of utter hatred and pure disgust that Oscar was giving the Doc. only had its true effect on those who knew how close of friends the two were before Jamie's breakdown. He'd been able to overlook Torros's blinding obsession for Zoids and everything that went with them for years; one just had to learn to take the man's negligence and ignorance for anything else into stride. But this was going much too far. When manners like this hurt his son, it was time for the supposed Doctor to wake up and see the real world for what it was. This time he'd gone too far.  
  
"Why?" he whispered, for the first time allowing hints of emotion into his voice. "What did… what were you thinking? Did you not know? Did you forget? Did you just… ignore it all?"  
  
"I never meant to hurt him, Oscar," the Doc replied sharply. There was a moment of dramatic silence as Torros's face fell and an air of grief and sorrow and regret took over his features. "I just… forgot. I completely forgot. I can't explain what happened; one minute he was fourteen and the next I'd missed his birthday by a week. I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen. I won't do it again."  
  
"You're damn right you won't," Oscar snapped. "I hope you're finally getting the idea, Torros. This isn't just about birthdays. For you to completely forget the birthday of someone over whom you hold legal guardianship has implications in itself, but that kind of stuff doesn't take one week to push someone to this level. You hurt him. In a lot of ways. Weather or not you meant to, all of you seriously hurt my son. I won't stand for that." Oscar stopped speaking for a moment. He took the chance to give each person in turn his or her own individual glare. They all, even Brad, faltered under his gaze. All except for the blond-haired guy. He wouldn't look up from the floor, and Oscar was unable to make eye contact.  
  
"You still don't fully get it," he said slowly, quietly, methodically. "My son just tried to *kill himself*. I'm here to do everything I can to make sure that that *doesn't happen again.*" He took a deep breath. "It's all about Jamie now," he said in a final tone. "It's all for him."  
  
The door slid shut in their faces.  
  
END CHAPTER EIGHT  
  
NEXT CHAPTER: A New Hero Emerges: Bit Cloud vs. the Cunning Wolf 


	9. A New Hero Emerges: Bit Cloud vs. The Cu...

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Zoids or anything associated with them except the Cunning Wolf, Gloria and Dr. Goman. Everything else that has to do with Zoids New Century/ Zero belongs to Viz and Pioneer. I just use them because they amuse me. I am not making any money off of this. No infringement is intended.  
  
CHAPTER NINE: A New Hero Emerges: Bit Cloud vs. the Cunning Wolf  
  
"Hey, Doc."  
  
Bit's voice slit thought the gloomy silence like an arrow, surprising the lone occupant inside the tactics room. No one spoke to anyone around here anymore. Least of all, Bit. And least of all to the Doc. The guilt and the sobriety and the sheer gravity of all that had taken place filled the Torros base so thickly that one could almost cut it with a knife. The fact that someone was missing from the atmosphere was very clear to the four remaining members every passing second; the responsibility for everything sat on their shoulders and weighed them down until they could barely stand up straight. No one talked. No one laughed. No one even smiled.  
  
Things had almost slowed to a halt since his. since *his*. well, since *he* had been sent to the hospital. The bathroom floor was littered with dirty towels, wet washcloths, tissues and toilet paper rolls that had either fallen out or not made it into the overflowing wastebasket. In every bedroom except one, dirty clothes spilled out of the hampers and lined the floors; dressers were nearly empty, and people were running out of clean underwear.  
  
The kitchen wasn't nearly as dirty as it could have been, if you overlooked the fact that the dishwasher was more than overflowing and the supply of food in the refrigerator and the pantry was dwindling quickly. Bit - as they had discovered to their surprise a week or so earlier - was actually not that bad of a cook, but he was certainly no expert on grocery shipping. Plus, he hadn't nearly the money for a decent trip in his own account, and didn't know how to begin the process of getting the money from the Blitz team's savings, or wherever it was that grocery money came from.  
  
The only thing it seemed that they *weren't* running out of was paperwork. E-mails and messages from the Zoids Battle Commission and from Zoid and Zoid part retailers and repair shops and too many other places to count needed to be sorted through and dealt with. The Stinger team had called, having heard the news of Jamie being put out of commission, and had agreed to reschedule the date of their battle for a later time. All the paperwork and forms and messages to and from the ZBC were lying scattered on and around the seats in the tactics room. Maintenance reports, budget forms, account transactions... the work was piling. Quickly.  
  
Doctor Torros sighed and set down the clipboard he was holding on top of another two that were sitting on the desk. He turned around in his seat.  
  
"Yes, Bit?" His voice was careful, and fairly calm. Out of all of them, Bit was taking the incident the hardest, yet he was also the one to lay the guilt and responsibility upon everyone around, himself included. It was best not to set him off these days.  
  
"Is Jamie allergic to anything besides strawberries?"  
  
Doc. flinched. The little that was said around here skirted around that name at all costs. The poor kid pierced their thoughts and emotions enough these days; they didn't need to add to the pain by bringing it out in the open. He noticed that Bit didn't mention Jamie's allergy to alcohol. He didn't need to. Doc knew what he meant.  
  
"Just peanuts. And blue food coloring."  
  
"Blue. food coloring?"  
  
"Yeah. Actually, any kind of artificial blue dye. Candies, juices, frosting, cereal. he can't have anything with unnatural blue in it, including green or purple."  
  
"That it?"  
  
"Yes, that's all. Why do you ask?"  
  
Bit scoffed. "Wouldn't you like to know."  
  
He hadn't meant for it to come out sounding so bitter. It was just that the Doc was making him so *angry* these days. He was doing nothing, *nothing,* absolutely nothing to reverse what they'd done. Jamie's birthday was more than a week ago, and rather than at least try to show he cared and try to apologize for forgetting it, Dr. Torros was just ignoring it. Like if he pretended it hadn't happened, his little mistake would just disappear or suddenly be okay. Things around here needed to change, *why* couldn't he just own up to what they did and finally see that?  
  
Doc covered his eyes with his hand. "It was just a question, Bit," he said tiredly, "There's no need to jump all over me. And I do want to know. I do care."  
  
"Of course you do," came the venomous reply. "Excuse me for not seeing it, considering how *obvious* it was that you ever cared for the kid as more than a homemaker."  
  
"Bit - "  
  
"Considering how very *clearly* you showed him that he meant as much to you as the rest of us on the team. You know, all the *respect* you always showed the kid, all those times you actually *listened* to what he had to say, those many times you took his ideas into consideration, because you *respect* the kid so much - "  
  
"I think I can pride myself with knowing a *little* more about Zoids than he does," Dr. Torros replied sharply.  
  
"That's your excuse for just throwing him aside every time he said something that you didn't feel like hearing? That you have more experience? Look what we've done to him, for Zi's sake! You - "  
  
"*We,*" Doc interrupted loudly, "So you admit that it wasn't just me who's responsible."  
  
"We *all* had a part in this, Doc," said Bit angrily, "I know that."  
  
"Then what right do you have to - "  
  
"I'm trying to do something about it!" Bit cried. "At least I feel sorry for what happened, not like *some* people around here who couldn't really care less about the whole thing!"  
  
"I never said I didn't care - "  
  
"You never had to, Doc! It's fairly obvious from the way you're just sitting there doing nothing while our teammate, *your* teammate, the kid *you're* responsible for is lying in a hospital, recovering from attempted suicide! If that doesn't say 'I don't give a damn about him' than pray tell me what does!"  
  
"And what exactly are *you* doing for him, Bit? Stop acting like I'm this terrible person because I made a mistake when *everything* you're accusing me of is something you're guilty of, too!"  
  
"I already told you, I'm trying to help!"  
  
"*Now* you are, yes. If you're so quick to accuse me of being so negligent, pray tell me, exactly what were *you* doing that I wasn't one week ago when his birthday came around?"  
  
"Me? I was hanging out, waiting for one of *you* to find me and tell me that it was even coming! Yes, I know I didn't treat the kid with even *half* the respect that I should have, but if I'd been a part of the team long enough to have any idea when his birthday was, I assure you I would have done *far* more than any of you cared to!"  
  
Dr. Torros froze, and Bit knew he had him cornered. The Doc looked to the floor and didn't reply.  
  
Bit lowered his voice to a normal, but still furious, tone.  
  
"When your, Brad and Leena's birthdays came around, nobody expected me to know when they were. When Brad's birthday first came up not long after I had joined the Blitz team, who was it that first told me it was coming? Jamie did. He approached me and told me quietly two weeks in advance. When your birthday came around, who first found me and told me it was on its way? Not Leena. Not *your own daughter.* Jamie did. And when Leena's birthday came up a couple of months ago, who beat you to the punch and told me two nights before she announced it to the whole planet? Jamie did. He made it his business to know every single one of your birthdays, and what did you do for him in return?"  
  
Doc didn't look up from the floor. He knew when Bit was right. He *had* gone and told Bit that his daughter's seventeenth birthday was approaching, only to be greeted with the news that he already knew. Jamie had told him the night before.  
  
"Was that your problem, Doc? Did Jamie have to tell *you* everybody's birthday too? Was Leena's the only one you knew? And you never remembered Jamie's because he's too shy and polite to tell anyone who should already know?" Bit paused for a moment in his speech, staring at Dr. Torros through narrowed eyes. "Jamie didn't have to tell you about Brad's birthday," he growled.  
  
"Well," Doc stammered. Bit was right, and he knew it. "It was his eighteenth. It meant a lot of changes had to be made in his registration. I *had* to remember it."  
  
"That's the lamest excuse I've ever heard, Doc," Bit replied in almost quiet shock. "If you knew Brad's you should've known Jamie's. There's no excusing it."  
  
"Well, what do you want me to do now, Bit?" shouted the Doc. "It's over. It's done with. There's no going back now." He made a move as though to stand, knocking an entire pile of papers to the floor as he did so. A folder opened, and its contents spilled freely across his feet. "GOD DAMMIT!" he shouted, slamming his fist against the computer board. Bit drew back ever so slightly. "I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS, BIT! I can't talk to you right now! I can't argue with you anymore. I have to get through all of this paperwork, and we've got more on the way, and I have to go through all the computer files and I." he trailed off and sat down hard into the chair. Only their heavy breathing was heard for a couple of minutes.  
  
Neither of the two had noticed Leena and Brad standing together in the doorway. They'd been drawn to the room by the shouting, and now stood practically speechless at what they saw.  
  
// "They won't realize how much they need yeh until suddenly they're stuck out there and they ain't got yeh around teh help 'em outa whatever mess they got themselves in."//  
  
"We're falling apart," Leena whispered, tears peeking out of the corners of her eyes. Bit and the Doc looked up. "We are absolutely falling apart."  
  
Brad made an unintelligible sound of affirmation in his throat and left.  
  
"I'm going out," said Bit sharply. "I'll be back sometime tonight. Don't bother waiting up for me."  
  
He left the room without another word and there was silence.  
  
Leena crossed the floor and bent to pick up the fallen papers. She set them carefully and quietly on the desk and sat down in the chair next to her father. Neither of them spoke for a very long time.  
  
"I never meant to hurt him," Dr. Torros whispered finally. "I would never in my life hurt Jamie intentionally. I never thought for a second that he thought we didn't care about him. I just figured he knew we did. I mean, we paid him and all. That should have told him something. And we. I mean. I do care about him. It's just that, I don't always have time to totally focus on him and put every ounce of energy I have into showing it. Is that a crime?"  
  
"Jamie didn't need to always be the center of attention," said Leena, sounding quiet and defeated. "He just needed some of it. He needed us to not toss him into the shadows like we did all the time."  
  
"It was always such an easy thing to do, though," replied the Doc sadly. "I mean we had you and Bit who were always so loud and so wild and. you two were always at the center of things. When one of you spoke up you were always, or almost always, heard. That's just the way you both are. And Brad, he's quiet, sure, but he knew what he wanted. He did what he wanted to, when he wanted to, and as long as he got his money it was good enough for him. He made his own way. Jamie isn't like that. He's shy, he's giving, unlike the rest of you he's willing to give something up for the team, even something he wants."  
  
"The rest of *us*?" pressed Leena.  
  
"Myself included," the Doc admitted quietly. "You know what I mean. It's just his character. He was always the first to step back when something conflicted, and that made it so easy to just shove him out of the way every time."  
  
"Face it," said Leena bitterly, "Who actually listened to the poor guy when he had something to say? It became second nature to just walk all over him." She wiped away a lone tear that had begun tracing a path down her cheek. *I'm really sorry, Jamie,* she thought as more began to take its place. *I do care about you. I never meant for any this to happen.*  
  
"But," said the Doc uncertainly, "He had to know we didn't *mean* to. It isn't like we completely forgot him."  
  
Leena gave her father a withering look. He flinched and looked down.  
  
"I. I don't know how that happened. I just never got around to marking it on the calendar, and with everything that's happened these past couple of weeks. it just completely slipped my mind."  
  
"I remember thinking about it after my birthday," mumbled Leena, "I remember thinking that, depending on when Bit's birthday was, the next birthday that came up would be Jamie's. I don't know what happened after that. I just never thought of it." She buried her face in her hands and muttered, "God, I feel so stupid."  
  
"It never even crossed my mind," said the Doc in reply.  
  
"Never?" said Leena incredulously. "You mean, you never even thought about it? Not once?"  
  
Dr. Torros shook his head regretfully.  
  
"But, dad, aren't you - "  
  
"I know, I know. You know how I am about Zoids and Zoid battles and all that. When something new and exciting comes up, I just get so worked up that. everything else just doesn't seem to matter anymore. You know what it's like. And when Bit came. it was like some sort of dream come true. Here we were, a lower ranked team with mediocre Zoids and middle-of- the-line battle skills, and here he was: the only known warrior who could pilot the Liger Zero. From the day he joined our team, we only went up in rank; we've only lost one battle since Bit became a part of the team. He was every team leader's dream; *he* was the one who was going to get us everywhere any Zoid team wanted to be. I told him myself, he was born to be a warrior.  
  
"And then, you and Brad, your skills as warriors kept improving with every battle after Bit joined. I don't know if you saw it, but I did, and I'm sure Jamie did. Especially after we got the Gunsniper and the Shadow Fox; things just couldn't get any better. I remember sometimes just sitting back and looking at you and wondering what more I could possibly ask from this world. I have a rapidly rising team with three of the finest warriors there are and one Ultimate X. It just pushed everything else from my mind."  
  
"Like Jamie."  
  
Dr. Torros sighed. "He's. he's young. Too young to be at the peak of his skills as a warrior. He knows that. As for that Vega Obscura kid, I'm willing to bet almost anything that he was either genetically altered to be that good, or to seem much younger than he actually is. Someone that age doesn't have that kind of ability. It isn't natural. Jamie - Jamie has the real talent. I always saw it in him. Aerial Zoids are especially hard to control; you must have noticed that when you got into that little incident with Jamie's Pteras," Leena nodded silently. "I'm sure Bit felt it too. When those Zabats from the Backdraft group took the Liger, Bit got the Pteras shot down almost immediately. And you must have noticed that all the other aerial Zoid pilots we've fought against have been considerably older than the three of you. It takes someone with a special gift to really bring out the full potential of an aerial Zoid. Jamie has that gift. just like his father. He just doesn't have the experience yet. But he'll get there. Give him another year or two, and he'll be one of the greatest aerial Zoid warriors around. I thought he knew that."  
  
"And," said Leena cautiously, "The Wild Eagle?"  
  
Doc waved his hand dismissively. "That's his father's gift, the one I was talking about. Jamie has it in him, but he doesn't have the confidence in himself or the true experience to really use it yet. And since his father doesn't fight anymore, and for reasons I could never understand, that gift somehow causes his subconscious to come forward. and you see the result. In another year, when Jamie gets the confidence he needs and the true warrior ability comes forth, the Wild Eagle will disappear and Jamie himself will show talent far beyond anything the Wild Eagle could do. I can guarantee it.  
  
"But Bit, Bit was now. Bit already has drawn out the full potential of the Liger, and we've all seen what the two are capable of together. I didn't need to wait a year for his ability to emerge, because he was already there. That's why it was so easy to just brush Jamie aside, I figured that he knew his time would come and right now was time to focus on Bit and all the things he gained for the team. After a while it became a subconscious effort; I never even thought of Jamie and what he wanted because right now the focus was on Bit and the tables hadn't turned to Jamie yet. I never in my life meant to hurt him.  
  
"Never."  
  
* * *  
  
*Looks like that's everything,* thought Bit as he set one last bag into the back of his open-topped car. A tiny hint of a smile played at his lips. Finally, he was doing something right. Finally he could turn the tables a little and show the poor kid how much he really meant to him. Finding what he needed in the Grocery Store had been hard after he realized that no blue dye meant no green - he had been planning to use green to show the Raynos - but he thought he had it all worked out quite nicely. He was almost broke with everything he'd had to buy. But it was worth it.  
  
*It's too late to set it all up now,* he thought, gazing up at the two orange moons lighting up the street. *I'll have to wait until tomorrow evening. I just hope it's enough.*  
  
As he was climbing into the front seat he took a chance look in the window of a nearby restaurant and saw a figure that made him stop in his tracks. A black jacket and a raspberry-colored braid that he'd seen before. His green eyes narrowed and he went inside.  
  
It was difficult to tell weather the strange old man saw him or not behind the dark glasses he wore, but Bit was in no hurry. He stood behind a chair on the opposite side of the table and watched the old loner sip something out of a white mug with a fiercely cold expression on his face.  
  
"Can I help yeh?" the old man muttered after a moment.  
  
"Yeah, actually you can," replied Bit sharply. "Do you happen to know anyone called Jamie?"  
  
"Sorry, kid," he answered without any physical response. "Can't help yeh there."  
  
Bit was taken aback. "But, I saw you here with him the other night! Of course you know him."  
  
"Sorry, kid," the old man repeated. "I don't know anybody by that name."  
  
Bit felt a pang of annoyance. This was the same man he'd seen that night. He was sure of it. "Come on, he's a little shorter than me, dark, spiky hair, gray eyes?"  
  
"Lotsa people 'round here fit that description," the man replied casually. "But I told yeh, I don't know anybody by that name."  
  
Bit clenched his teeth. He was really starting to not like this guy. He had to be lying. This was the guy Jamie had been talking to, and Bit knew it. Not many people wore jackets like that, and certainly very few brought their own drinks into a restaurant, more or less that trademark red one.  
  
Wait a second. that bottle! He remembered seeing that bottle on the table where Jamie and this strange man were talking, and also. he'd found that bottle one other place.  
  
"Quit the act and tell me the truth already," he snapped, sitting down in the seat so suddenly that the man looked up. "I know you know exactly who I'm talking about."  
  
"'Fraid I don't, kid," said the man, taking a sip from his mug. "Not big on listening skills, are yeh? I told yeh, I don't know anybody by that name."  
  
"But. he was holding a red bottle, *that* red bottle, when I. when I found. wait a second," Bit looked up in sudden inspiration. "What about the Wild Eagle?"  
  
The man set down his mug quietly. Bit smiled.  
  
"You do know him," he said smugly. "I know it."  
  
"Well," replied the man, "If yer looking teh find him here, I really can't help yeh. I haven't seen him around for a couple'a days."  
  
"I *know* where he is," snapped Bit. "He's in the hospital. Thanks to you."  
  
"Really?" the old man seemed uninterested. "And would yeh like teh tell me exactly what I did teh constitute this?"  
  
"He was found in a parking lot holding *that* bottle. He had a major allergic reaction to everything in whatever's in there. He nearly *died*."  
  
"Did he now? And I forced my drink down his throat, is that it?"  
  
"Well, no," replied Bit dejectedly. "He took it himself."  
  
"I see. And at what point are yeh going teh tell me where I fit in- teh all of this?"  
  
"You know what I'm talking about!" cried Bit in frustration. "You were talking to him here. A lot. You can't tell me you didn't at least have *some* idea about what was going to happen."  
  
"You mean the same kind of idea yeh had about him before it happened?"  
  
Bit froze. The guy had him cornered. If Bit said yes, then the man would ask why he didn't do something about it sooner, and he wouldn't have an answer. If he said no, the man would point out that, having known Jamie for longer than he had, Bit should have some idea and shouldn't be holding *him* responsible for anything.  
  
"Look," he finally said. "Things haven't been great around the base lately. I'll admit it; communication between me and Jamie hasn't been at it's finest. But that's all changing now. And nothing really went wrong until after the first night he came out here by himself. The first night he met *you*. You had something to do with all this. Don't even try and deny it."  
  
"I've nothing teh deny," replied the man calmly. "I know, whatever you choose to believe, that I had no part in whatever happened between yeh and him back at yer little base. Yer accusing me of something extremely foolish, boy. If yer so quick teh put the blame on somebody else, than that really only points in one direction as teh who's really responsible fer whatever that kid did teh himself, and what kinda person it would take teh push someone teh that level."  
  
Bit scowled but didn't say anything.  
  
"Now," said the old man, packing the bottle and mug into a very familiar black satchel. "I've got teh go. Nice talking teh yeh."  
  
Bit rose at the same time as the man did.  
  
"Don't you even care?" he asked sharply. "If you've been talking to him all week long, shouldn't you even *care* that he's in the *hospital* right now?"  
  
The old man shrugged. "The kid stole my drinks. Do yeh expect me teh feel bad fer him after that?"  
  
Bit's expression twisted into a mixture of fury and disgust. "You are a horrible, horrible person," he said quietly.  
  
The man laughed and opened his mouth to reply.  
  
Bit punched him.  
  
END CHAPTER NINE  
  
NEXT CHAPTER: The Gift of the Eagle: Things change for the better 


	10. The Gift of the Eagle: Things change for...

DISCLAIMER: (Must I go through all this again?) I don't own Zoids or anything associated with them except the Cunning Wolf, and all the doctors and nurses. Everything else that has to do with Zoids belongs to Viz and Pioneer. I just use them because I want to. I am not making any money off of this. No infringement is intended.  
  
BelleLuna: Wow. I. I, I, I-I. wow. I'm flattered. Thank you. I never thought I would actually touch someone like that. See, the story is me too. All the way. Except for, I'm still waiting for my Oscar Hemeros and Bit Cloud to come through for me. That's why I wrote this, to get it all out of my system. It's my way of expressing myself and the stuff I've been through. Thank you so much. Don't be embarrassed. It really means a lot to me that I could actually reach someone like that.  
  
CHAPTER TEN: The Gift of the Eagle: Things change for the better  
  
Oscar sat back in his chair, dumbfounded and absolutely speechless. Grief contorted his features as his son's raspy voice, broken up by chokes and sobs, washed over him. He'd had no idea. NO IDEA that it had gotten to this.  
  
At first Jamie had been tentative in his speech, not wanting to seem petty or over-dramatic, but as he continued to speak he grew more confident - and the tears flowed more freely. The Doctor sat in a black chair next to the hospital bed, holding a thin folder in his hands and watching his young patient gravely.  
  
Jamie told them about being ignored; told them many small stories of the various times when he had been tossed aside like a used dish rag - being abandoned on a beach with the crabs, helpless to protect himself had been one of them. He told them how they stood around and watched as he did every bit of the housework and paperwork that existed, and yet the Doc still deemed it okay to slip behind Jamie's back and buy the things he wanted without Jamie's knowledge and/or against his will. He told them how protective Leena, Brad and Bit were of their respective Zoids, and yet how casually they climbed over and stole, often trashing, the Pteras and the Raynos, weather Jamie was around to protest or not. He told them how everything he ever said around the base was ignored as easily as if he had simply remained silent; how before mealtimes he would be nagged and pestered mercilessly, yet no one, not *once* had anyone stopped to ask if he needed help.  
  
Weather he was done or just unable to continue, no one could tell. Jamie trailed off in his speech, rolled over facedown on the bed and sobbed into the pillow. Oscar ran a hand over his son's trembling back.  
  
"They had no right to do that to you," he whispered gently, though he could not keep his voice from wavering with fury, "None. You don't deserve any of that. It's stopping here, son. Things are going to change after this. I promise."  
  
Jamie turned his head so that his cheek was pressed against the pillow and watched his father through teary eyes.  
  
"I don't want to be any trouble," he rasped.  
  
"You're not," Oscar replied soothingly, feeling his insides collapse and hot tears poking at the back of his eyes. *What have you done to my son, Torros?* he thought bitterly. "Of course you're not. You never have been. Now stop thinking like that and smile for me. Things are going to be better after this; there's nothing more I want right now than for you to be happy. You aren't placing any unwanted trouble on anyone, understand?"  
  
Jamie nodded and forced his lips to turn upward, if ever so slightly, at the corners. It was extremely difficult - trying to seem happy when all he wanted to do was curl up in a corner and sob until he was too exhausted with the world to go on living. More tears began to well in the corners of his eyes; Jamie clenched his teeth and wiped them away with a trembling hand.  
  
"Sorry," he whispered.  
  
"For what?" he heard his father reply gently. Jamie closed his eyes, squeezing more hot tears out below his eyelids, and felt a warm hand slide up and down his back consolingly. "Don't be ashamed of crying, Jamie. You need it. You're certainly entitled to it after all you've been through. It doesn't mean you're weak," he said with a sudden change of tone, making Jamie feel as though he had read his mind. "It just means you're unhappy, you're exhausted, you've been through much more than most people your age should have to put up with. It's nothing bad."  
  
"Your father's right," the Doctor cut in. "You have been through a complete mental and emotional breakdown, so tears at this point are perfectly natural, I assure you. Don't try to hold them in, Jamie; suppressed emotions can't help you at all at this point."  
  
Jamie nodded and struggled to sit up. Oscar helped him with strong arms and gently set up the pillows so that Jamie could lean back against them.  
  
"What's going to happen to me now?" Jamie asked Dr. Goman weakly.  
  
"Well, you're going to need to see a counselor while you're here in the hospital. You and your father will meet with her for an hour every evening, and we'll determine what happens after your discharge based on her opinion."  
  
"A shrink?" said Jamie incredulously. "Am I psycho?"  
  
The doctor smiled. "No. Many people, you might be surprised, go to counseling once or twice a week. It doesn't make them 'psycho,' it just means that they need help sorting out some problems in their lifestyle. What happened the other night was a desperate cry for help on your part, and this is our response. Understand this, Jamie, because it's very important: you did absolutely nothing wrong. What your teammates did to you was wrong. It's neglect, and it's a form of child abuse. You did nothing to provoke that kind of treatment, and it is *not* your fault that this happened. We're here to help you get your life back on track."  
  
Jamie nodded; staring through newly formed tears at the bedsheets.  
  
"This is where I leave you," said Dr. Goman as he stood up. "I'll come back to check on the both of you sometime in the evening. Is there anything you need before I go?" Jamie shook his head. "Are you sure? Would you like some crackers or something to eat? The sooner you get some food into your system," he added, "the sooner we can take that IV out of your arm."  
  
"If it isn't too much trouble," said Jamie quietly, "May I have some crackers?"  
  
"Of course you may," the doctor replied with a smile. "It's no trouble at all. I'll have one of the nurses bring a package in for you right away."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"No problem. Remember to get some rest as well. You'll need it to recover."  
  
Jamie nodded, and the doctor left quietly.  
  
"So, son," said Oscar after a moment of silence. "How would you like to open your birthday present now?"  
  
"My-my. my b-birthday present?" Jamie stammered, thunderstruck.  
  
"Course! Don't you remember? I told you when I called that I was going to wait until I saw you in person to give it to you." *Didn't expect it to be under these circumstances, though,* he thought darkly.  
  
"Oh yeah," Jamie mumbled. Oscar smiled and reached below the bed to retrieve a medium sized box covered in shiny silver and gold wrapping paper. Jamie took it with trembling hands.  
  
"There you are, Jamie," said Oscar with a grin. "Happy birthday, son."  
  
Jamie couldn't speak, but his father seemed to understand. For a full minute, the kid just sat there staring at the gift in his hands through more tears that began to well up.  
  
"There's a present actually *inside* the box, too," said Oscar gently. Under any other circumstances, he would have laughed heartily at the absurdity of the moment, but knowing what he did about life at the Torros base, it just made him angrier.  
  
"Oh, right," said Jamie, shaking his head. His fingers trembled so hard as he began to peel off the wrapping paper that it took him longer than normal to completely unwrap it. Oscar had to help him peel off the tape that sealed the top of the tan cardboard box inside. Jamie lifted the thing inside it slowly and stared at it with wide eyes.  
  
"Hand carved at a special shop," said Oscar proudly. "Thought of you the instant I saw it, after all that Torros had told me about you flying the Raynos."  
  
"Thanks, dad," rasped Jamie, his throat suddenly dry.  
  
It was an eagle. A wooden one. With beautifully painted white feathers and yellow eyes that sent faint chills down Jamie's spine. The tiny fibers in each individually carved feather in the wings - which were posed as though mid-flight - had been carved flawlessly. Every tiny little detail from the open beak to the sharp talons portrayed a sense of motion, of carelessness, of the infinite freedoms of flight. Truly a wild eagle.  
  
"You're welcome, Jamie," Oscar replied. He smiled and clapped a hand on Jamie's shoulder.  
  
Just then, a nurse with short, teal colored hair entered the room with a full package of saltine crackers.  
  
"Dr. Goman told me you wanted something to eat," she said kindly. Jamie nodded, so she handed him the bag.  
  
"Thanks," said Jamie and Oscar at the same time.  
  
The nurse's eyes grew wide.  
  
"Wow," she breathed. "What's that?" She gestured to the wooden eagle in Jamie's lap. "It's. that's amazing. It's beautiful."  
  
Jamie and Oscar both smiled.  
  
* * *  
  
No one had dared to attempt conversation with Bit since his argument with the Doc. in the strategy room. There was just this air to him. an expression on his entire body that just said 'Back off' all over. Outside of battle no one who knew Bit well thought of him as an intimidating person, but after last night they were treating him like a force to be reckoned with.  
  
He'd returned after about two hours with two grocery bags- no one knew what they contained - and a glower on his face that could have frozen water in July. They didn't dare ask him what had put him in such a mood. Since then he had talked to no one.  
  
This evening Bit entered the kitchen with his grocery bags as soon as the last person had cleared out, and had not left it for nearly two hours now. No one dared to poke a head in to see what he was doing; though curiosity pricked at them all.  
  
Bit stood over his work at the kitchen table and ran a hand through his wild blond hair. He had long since finished what had actually needed to be done in the kitchen, but he'd figured it would be easier to just get everything set up in here so to avoid questions and curious glances when moving all this stuff from room to room.  
  
He smiled when he was finished and took a glance over his shoulder at the clock on the wall. 9:33pm (I don't like military clocks); he was making pretty good time.  
  
*I just need to get this stuff down to the hospital and I'm all set,* he thought to himself.  
  
Liger turned his mighty head to look at the teenage warrior when Bit entered the hangar, walking carefully with his burden of two very full grocery bags.  
  
"Sorry, buddy," grunted Bit, loading the stuff into the back of the car. "I'm not taking you this time. It would attract too much attention." Liger growled sadly. Something in its tone made Bit pause for a second and look over at his great white partner. How long had it been since the two had last gone for a run together? It seemed like ages. Certainly before Jamie had been sent to the hospital. Bit felt a pang of guilt and sighed in sadness and frustration. Why must it be so easy to concentrate on one person close to you, and yet push aside another in the process?  
  
"Look, Liger," he said patiently. "This whole Jamie thing has just been tearing me up these past few days. I mean, if you think about it, we've been horrible to the kid. Yeah, it was great to get all that attention. The news people, the interviews, the pictures in the paper. but that was mostly just the two of us. We make an *awesome* team, Liger, and I'd never fight with anybody but you, but think about how poor Jamie must have felt. I can't live like that; knowing it's partially my fault this happened. I just need to get this one thing done, and I *promise* you tomorrow we'll go for another run, okay buddy?"  
  
Liger roared happily.  
  
"Yeah! That's the spirit, partner!"  
  
And with that, Bit drove off into the darkness.  
  
* * *  
  
"I'm sorry sir," said the surprised looking young woman at the receptionist's desk. "We don't allow visitors after 8p.m, and no one is permitted to see that boy - "  
  
"I know, I know," Bit replied hastily. "I'm not here to visit him. I just wanted to drop by and set this up in his room while he's asleep. I want it to be a surprise."  
  
"I'm sorry, sir," the receptionist repeated. "I can't let you in there. It's against the rules."  
  
"What?" Bit cried impatiently, "You can't at least let me put this in his room? What kind of a place is this?" Couldn't this woman *see* the seriousness here? How was Jamie supposed to get better if he couldn't see how much Bit really *did* care about the kid? How was Bit supposed to show him if these stupid hospital people wouldn't let him in?  
  
"Look," he said to the woman angrily, "This is important to me. Really important. I screwed up, big time, and this is my way of apologizing. If I can't get this stuff to him. well, I'm *going* to get this stuff to him, and that's final."  
  
"Sir - "  
  
"Is his dad awake? Can you see if he'll come out and talk to me? Maybe he can take this stuff and put it in his room."  
  
The woman was silent for a moment. She sighed and agreed reluctantly, "But if he's asleep, or if he asks you to take your things and go, you have no other alternative. You'll have to wait until visitors are allowed to see the boy."  
  
Bit folded his arms and said nothing.  
  
A few minutes later, Oscar followed one of the nurses out into the lobby. He glared at Bit through stern eyes and took a quick glance at the bags at his feet.  
  
"You're Torros's newest warrior, aren't you?" he said neutrally. "What is it?"  
  
"I'm really sorry for what happened," Bit began, "I would never in my life have intended to do anything like that to Jamie. I didn't know - no one ever told me when Jamie's birthday was. I had no way of knowing, and I feel really bad about missing it. So I brought this, because I want him to know that I wouldn't have forgotten if, if I knew."  
  
Oscar eyed him suspiciously.  
  
"How long have you been on the team?" he asked.  
  
"Around eight or nine months now," replied Bit.  
  
Oscar considered this for a moment.  
  
"I'll take that in for you," he said at last.  
  
Bit beamed.  
  
"Will you set it up and everything? I want him to wake up and be surprised."  
  
"Sure thing. Bit, isn't it?"  
  
"Yeah. Thanks. Very much. It means a lot to me."  
  
Oscar nodded, taking the two bags into his arms.  
  
"This'll probably mean a lot to Jamie, too," he said sincerely. "Thanks a lot for doing this. He really needs it right now."  
  
"How's he doing?"  
  
"As well as can be expected, I guess. He's still in pretty bad shape, but he's getting better. I'm doing everything I can for him. It'll help a lot that you stopped by."  
  
Bit nodded. "I wrote a letter. It should be in there somewhere; make sure he gets a chance to read it."  
  
"I will."  
  
* * *  
  
Jamie opened his gray eyes slowly and yawned into the morning sunlight streaming through the windows. The clock someone had placed beside the bed read 8:56 p.m.; the earliest he had woken up since he got here - yet later than he'd ever gotten out of bed at the base.  
  
His father's bed was empty. Jamie figured that he'd gone down for a quick breakfast while Jamie had been asleep. Oscar didn't like to be out of the room when his son was awake, especially since that incident with Wolf the other day. But it didn't matter. Jamie figured his father would be back soon, and something in his gut told him that Wolf wasn't going to return after this. He'd seen the last of that creepy old man; not that he felt any remorse about it.  
  
Jamie propped himself up on one elbow to look around for the call button, planning to ask for a glass of orange juice. Something caught his eye before he found it. The table. There was something. on it.  
  
Jamie's gray eyes widened. He sat up all the way, ignoring the dizziness that engulfed him as he did so.  
  
The door opened with a swish to admit his father. Oscar at first looked surprised to see Jamie awake, but a grin lit up his features when he saw what Jamie was looking at.  
  
"What do you think, son?" he asked Jamie happily. "The guy came to see me last night after you fell asleep. The receptionist said he was really stubborn about getting this to you." He took a moment to sit beside Jamie on the bed and placed a hand on Jamie's shoulder. "Seems like he really cares about you."  
  
Jamie nodded with wide gray eyes.  
  
Draped across the tabletop was a beautiful green canvas table cloth, almost exactly matching the color of his Raynos. Topping it was *another* present for him wrapped in shiny blue wrapping paper with white letters saying Happy Birthday littered across the surface. A paper bag sat towards the back with a white note stapled to the top, but the highlight was the cake. A double layer chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and red and white icing around the edges sat in the very center of it all. The words 'Happy Birthday, Jamie!' were written across the top with *very* wobbly handwriting, and Jamie grinned. It was the first genuine grin that had crossed his face in a very long time. He'd had no idea this was coming.  
  
A box of birthday candles and a box of matches sat at the base of the cake, accompanied by an envelope with just the word 'Jamie' written on the front. Jamie's grin only grew bigger. His dizziness faded into the background and he began to laugh out loud. He'd had no idea, never in his life had he expected this to happen.  
  
Jamie's young laughter struck something into Oscar's heart. He smiled widely, convinced for perhaps the first time that Jamie was actually going to be okay. It wasn't all dark. Things were starting to look up.  
  
A simple white placard stood at the very front of it all. Bold green lettering on a white card that no one could misread. It's presence added to the mood and lifted Jamie's heart considerably.  
  
FROM BIT  
  
END CHAPTER TEN  
  
NEXT CHAPTER: God, I Am So SICK Of Thinking Up These Stupid Titles: in which Superkat finally realizes this story is getting way, WAY too long and promises all readers that the end is nearing! 


	11. No More Stupid Titles: In which we final...

DISCLAIMER: Let me give it to you straight. I. Don't. Own. Zoids. Get the picture yet? I am not going to claim ownership of them anytime soon. Viz and Pioneer own the rights to the show, and they are doing a fine job with it in my opinion. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. So is fanfiction. No infringement is intended. The Cunning Wolf, however, does belong to me. If you want to use him, PLEASE ASK me. Not sure why I'd say no, but then again I'm not sure why you'd want to use him either.  
  
A/N: I'm sorry! This is getting really long, compared to the fanfiction that I'm used to writing. The original stories I've written are pretty long, but I think this is the longest non-original piece I've written. And no, this is not the last chapter. I still have more to come. (Like one, and an epilogue.) Thank you, thank you, thank you to those who reviewed! They are very much appreciated. Keep it up!  
  
For some strange reason, in the last couple of chapters the whole concept of three dots in a row to signalize someone trailing off has not been posting correctly. I skim the story over and in its place all I see is one dot. That was not meant to happen. I'm trying something this chapter, and I seriously hope it works . . .  
  
Vulpick: Jamie is both a girl's and a boy's name. Except for the most part girls spell it JaIMe and boys spell it JaMIe. Usually with guys, Jamie is a nickname for James.  
  
CHAPTER ELEVEN: No More Stupid Titles: In which we finally near the end of this thing  
  
*Dear Jamie,*  
  
*I wish that there was a way I could prove to you just how SORRY I am that all of this had to happen. We really screwed up this time; now I realize that. I never in my life meant to hurt you. Never. I've thought of you as a little brother and as much of a team member as everyone else at the base from day one. I just wish I'd told you so. I know that there isn't anything I can really do to make up for everything we did to you, but hopefully this comes close. Or at the very least, it shows that I tried.*  
  
*I hope you know that there is no way I could have known about your birthday, and that I would definitely NOT have forgotten if I did. No one ever told me. I wondered about it a couple of times, but I always figured Doc or somebody would have come around and told me when your birthday came. If I'd only known . . . I understand now why the whole idea of my birthday made you so angry. I wish I'd known then what I do now. I didn't mean to hurt you.*  
  
*I do appreciate you, Jamie. I always have. So have the rest of us. We're absolutely falling apart here at the base without you around, in more ways than one. I wish there was some way I could show you how much we need you around on this team. I wish I could show you the kind of shape we're in now that you're gone. You're what holds us together, the person who keeps us up and running, right on track every step of the way. You're there to remind us of what we need to know, to bring us back down to reality when Doc or I starts to get too optimistic for our own good, or when Doc's eyes grow bigger than his wallet. It may not be clear to you, but without you around we wouldn't have gotten nearly as far as we did. I mean that. Ask anyone, and they'll agree with me. I miss you, Jamie. We all miss you.*  
  
*Remember what I told you, because I mean it all. Every word. You are appreciated here; it's just that the rest of us were always too caught up in our own little lives to think to show it. You were always the modest one, the shy one, the only one around who'd even think to give something up for the sake of the team, and because of that we took you for granted and tossed you aside when we shouldn't have. I'm sorry, Jamie. Really sorry. It won't happen again. I promise.*  
  
*Bit Cloud*  
  
Tears streamed down poor Jamie's face after he finished reading the letter. He handed it to his father with a trembling hand and reached for a tissue.  
  
Oscar placed his hand on Jamie's shoulder and kept it there as he read the letter. His face softened; he sat down beside his son on the hospital bed. There was silence for a moment as Jamie rubbed away a fresh round of tears.  
  
"He seemed very worried about you when I talked to him last night," said Oscar gently.  
  
"He - he," stuttered Jamie, "He went to all this trouble . . . for me?"  
  
"Of course he did. You obviously mean a lot to him. There's no question in my mind that you certainly deserve it."  
  
"I just wish I could thank him."  
  
"Maybe you can."  
  
Jamie looked up at his father, who just smiled and shrugged.  
  
"Now, come on, let's see what he got you."  
  
Jamie's hands were trembling much harder as he opened Bit's present than they had when he'd opened his father's. Inside he found a notebook, a spiral notebook with a beautiful picture of a Pteras standing poised magnificently. A brand new deck of playing cards sat on the cover, and slipped between the cover and the first page was a silver medallion with a Raynos carved onto it, hanging on a green canvas strap. Jamie hung it around his neck with violently shaking hands and beamed.  
  
"What do you think?" he asked his father.  
  
Oscar grinned. "I think it fits you, son."  
  
"What's in the bag?"  
  
Oscar stood up and crossed the room to the table. Jamie, who was still feeling weak almost to the point of exhaustion, watched curiously from his position in bed.  
  
The former pilot unstuck the white card from the bag and read it aloud.  
  
"I thought you might be more comfortable in these."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
Oscar took a peek inside. "It's your pajamas," he said with an amazed smile. "And I think he brought a set of your regular clothes, too."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah. But you'll probably have to wait until the Doctor and nurses say its okay before you put them on, though."  
  
"Yeah, I know," said Jamie offhandedly. Frankly, right then he wouldn't have cared if the Doctor said he could never wear regular clothes again. The fact that Bit cared enough to think of it - to think of *him* - and go out of his way to bring them in for Jamie's sake meant more to the boy than one thousand birthday presents.  
  
The cake was packed up and stored in the refrigerator, for later when Jamie was well enough to eat something so rich. Jamie had politely offered a piece to the nurses who came in to get it, but Oscar stubbornly maintained that the birthday boy was to have the first piece, and everyone else would have to wait until he was ready for it.  
  
A request was made to the people at the reception desk that, if Bit Cloud were to show up in the lobby they should send him in to Jamie's hospital room to see the kid. However, Bit was the *only* person Jamie was feeling up to seeing at this point; no one else was to be allowed into his room just yet.  
  
Sure enough, later that afternoon a very familiar blonde warrior poked his head through the door and tentatively entered the room.  
  
The torrent of clashing emotions running through Bit's head was very apparent. They could easily see the intensity of the relief in his eyes, yet there was also the wild grief and the terrible regret at having been the one to do this to him. Part of him looked like he wanted to rush over and pull Jamie into a tight hug, but another was wary of even approaching the boy past two feet in front of the doorway. So for a few minutes he just hung there in the pregnant silence, looking relieved and angry and regretful and awkward and ecstatic at the same time.  
  
"So," he said quietly. "How are you feeling, Jamie?"  
  
Jamie shrugged, resting the back of his head against the wall behind the bed. "All right. A little better."  
  
Bit smiled. "I'm just glad you're okay."  
  
Jamie returned the smile. "Thanks for the presents and the cake . . . and my clothes," he said quietly. Making normal conversation was so hard. There was so much to skirt over, so much that they needed to see out in the open, but couldn't. This was why he hadn't wanted to face his team members. Too much fake politeness and awkward silence.  
  
"It was nothing," replied Bit with a dismissive wave of the hand. "It was the least I could do." Suddenly, Bit seemed to abandon all previous thought and moved to sit in the chair next to Jamie's bed. Oscar observed quietly in the background.  
  
"I just need to know . . . Jamie?" he said seriously, looking straight into the boy's gray eyes. "I need to know if you're going to be okay. How are you, really?"  
  
Jamie's eyes shifted awkwardly. He shrugged. "Okay, I guess," he muttered to his sheets. "Considering, you know. I guess I'll be all right."  
  
Bit nodded solemnly. "Do you . . . " he began, "Do you want to talk about it?"  
  
Jamie bit his lip. "I, I guess I probably should. I mean, yeah I do, but . . . it's so hard to think about it."  
  
He received a sober nod in reply. "I understand," said Bit, and Jamie had to marvel. This was a side to Bit he'd never seen before. He'd confided in the older warrior once or twice, but Bit's replies had always been so casual, so. laid back. His persona never really changed then. Now, however, it was as though the blonde had done a complete personality revamp. Jamie couldn't help but feel ashamed. What Bit must think of him now to be acting so completely different . . .  
  
"What about you?" he asked. "Do *you* want to talk about it?"  
  
"I'm ready to talk when you are, Jamie. It's not about what I want."  
  
The two boys sat quietly together for a minute. Jamie opened his mouth, but found that words refused to form properly on his tongue.  
  
"I-It's just that . . . I don't know, I - we just - I can't really . . . " Jamie stammered helplessly. Tiny heat prickles began to poke at the back of his eyes again and he panicked. He couldn't cry here! Not in front of Bit!  
  
Thinking about it didn't do him any good; hot tears spilled over despite his efforts. He gave up trying to talk and focused on turning his head away so Bit wouldn't see how weak he really was. /Stop crying,/ he commanded himself. /Stop this, now./  
  
Jamie's misty gray eyes widened in surprise when Bit's arms wrapped around his shoulders consolingly and hugged him. No one besides his father had ever hugged him since . . . since . . . as long as he could remember.  
  
"I'm sorry," he rasped, more tears seeping into Bit's shoulder.  
  
"For what?"  
  
"I must seem like such a wimp right now, crying and all on you like this."  
  
"No you don't, Jamie," replied Bit with quiet shock. "Of course you don't. How can you think like that? You have every right to cry. I'm the one who should be sorry."  
  
Silence. "Thanks."  
  
"For what?"  
  
"For . . . everything. For the presents, and coming over to visit me. Thanks."  
  
More silence.  
  
"No problem. No problem at all."  
  
* * *  
  
Bit stayed with Jamie and Oscar for the rest of the afternoon. Only about a half an hour was spent on serious talk, but after that they mostly amused themselves with various three-person card games or Bit's pathetic attempts at building a house out of the deck, or just by sitting around and chatting like three old friends. Bit at Jamie's request then joined the two in their first ever counseling session that evening.  
  
Dr. Harris was an extremely nice young blonde woman who smiled at each of the three as she came in. She was very friendly while explaining basically what she wanted to talk about with them, especially Jamie, and what she wanted to achieve. All three of the boys grew to like her quickly.  
  
Bit attended every counseling session with Jamie and his dad after that. He wanted to be there to provide a comforting arm when Jamie cried, and he felt it his duty as part of the Blitz team to be here and repay everything he'd done to the kid.  
  
The week progressed. Jamie recovered from the actual reaction and became strong enough to walk around the hospital on his own. They finally cut his birthday cake, which turned out to be rather good even though Bit admitted later that it was from a mix (he'd never actually baked a cake before), and shared a piece with many of the nurses and some of the other children staying in the pediatric ward.  
  
Jamie seemed to be recovering emotionally as well, much to the delight of Oscar and Bit and the rest of the nurses. He didn't cry nearly as much outside of the counseling sessions, and was making friends with more than a few of the nurses. They simply loved him. When walking down the hallway late one night after Jamie had fallen asleep, Oscar overheard three or four of them talking in the nurses station. He didn't pay much attention to what they were saying until he heard one of them say something about "that cutie in room 107." He froze and kept listening.  
  
"Yeah, him. He is so adorable, that poor child."  
  
"I know! He's always so polite when he asks for something, it just makes me want to melt!"  
  
"You just don't find kids like him anymore."  
  
There were several murmurs of agreement. Oscar, not wanting to be spotted eavesdropping, continued down the hall with a small smile on his face.  
  
Sometimes Jamie and Oscar stayed up fairly late talking. Just talking. They'd both face each other in their cots across the room and whisper well into the night. It had been so long since they'd gotten to spend quality time together; the two had a lot to catch up on. It was nice to have someone to feel so close to. A family again. Jamie liked it.  
  
All in all, things looked better and better with each passing day. Counseling sessions were going well, Jamie and Bit were now like inseparable brothers, and Jamie himself was happier than he had ever been. He was learning self-confidence, a trait of which he had never possessed much. He was learning to express what he wanted and to believe in himself rather than just rely on a bunch of computers.  
  
Dr. Harris also faced him with one major decision, one she said that - though he could discuss it with his father and Bit as much as he wanted - in the end would be entirely his own. At the end of the week the rest of the Blitz team, Doc included, would be attending an hour long counseling session with Jamie, Oscar and Bit. It was Jamie's decision weather after the session was over he would leave the Blitz team for good and live with his father, or give his team mates a second chance and remain at the Base. Were he to stay with the Blitz team, many things would change about their lifestyle of course.  
  
Jamie spent a long time brooding over this. At first it had seemed so easy. Who needed a life where all you were was a homebody? Who needed to stand around and be treated like a worthless slave all the time? And he hadn't realized until this point just how much he'd missed his father. To finally get to see him after so long and to get to spend so much time with him over the week was something Jamie loved. He wasn't exactly thrilled about parting with him again. He knew he'd miss his dad much more now if he chose to go back.  
  
But then again . . . what about Bit? He and Bit had become closer than ever over the past week, like brothers it seemed. Jamie had never had any siblings and he kind of liked the protectiveness and affection one got from an older brother. He knew that he'd miss Bit terribly if he left the Blitz team, just as much as he knew Bit would miss him. Jamie was also certain that, how ever many times he told him otherwise, Bit would continue to blame himself for the loss of the Blitz team's strategist. That's just the way he'd been these past couple of days. It would really hurt him to see Jamie go.  
  
And what about Zoid battles? His father had assured him that the Raynos would come with him were he to move in with his father, but he wouldn't get to fight anymore. Not that he fought a whole ton on the Blitz team. Still, it would hurt like nothing else to watch the Blitz team grow and strive in Class S without him. He loved Zoid battles, weather he was attempting to fight with his Pteras, or the Wild Eagle was fighting for him in the Raynos, or even if he was just observing the battle from the Hover Cargo. It would hurt to give up all of that.  
  
The indecision plagued him for the whole week, but despite that he found himself happier than he'd been in ages - almost years - and the week seemed to fly by.  
  
Before he knew it, the sun was creeping through the window the morning before he was to face Doc, Leena and Brad, the morning his decision would have to be made. Jamie gritted his teeth. He still wasn't completely confident about his decision yet.  
  
Oscar left for the hospital cafeteria, promising to bring back something even though Jamie insisted he wasn't hungry. He needed time alone to think about what was going to happen. It was strange to think that tonight, one way or the other, he wouldn't be sleeping in this same room anymore. Not that he minded leaving the hospital. It was just the certain stability that he had found here that he knew would be harder to hold onto once he left.  
  
Jamie hugged his knees to his chest. He didn't look up when the door opened. His fierce gaze at the bed sheets didn't move even when he felt the depression in the mattress; someone sitting beside him on the edge of the bed.  
  
"Hey, Jamie."  
  
"Hi, Bit."  
  
"You okay?"  
  
"Yeah. Just thinking."  
  
There was a long silence. Bit put his hand on Jamie's shoulder.  
  
"I . . . look, I never told you this, because I was afraid of hurting you. The whole week you seemed so happy, and I didn't want to bring it all back up when you didn't want to talk about it."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I . . . well, I followed you one of those nights. You know, after the first night when you passed out and all of that. I was worried about what was happening to you, so I followed you into town. I saw you with - that guy. You were talking to him."  
  
Jamie suddenly looked up. "You followed me?"  
  
"Yeah. I'm really sorry. I was worried about you. I wanted to make sure you were okay. It was just that one time."  
  
"You were worried about me?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
A pause. "Wow. I, I had no idea."  
  
"Actually . . . "  
  
"Actually what?"  
  
"It wasn't just that one time."  
  
"You followed me again?"  
  
"Just one other time. I was really worried about you then. You were just so *mad* at everyone, and I was scared. I wanted to make sure you were okay. Actually, I didn't really follow you, not right away. I kind of stood there for a while like a complete idiot, wondering if I should just let you sort it all out on your own or if I should try to talk to you. Then I went to the same town you always went to, that same restaurant I found you and that old guy at, but you weren't there. I should have gone after you sooner. I really should have. I screwed up a lot that week. I was lucky. *You* were lucky. I'm just glad it all worked out okay."  
  
Jamie didn't look up. He couldn't speak. Bit knew he understood.  
  
"Look, Jamie, whatever happens, promise me one thing."  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"Promise me you'll never, ever, *ever* try anything like that again. No matter what happens. You have your dad, you'll always have me . . . just don't do it again, okay?"  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Promise?"  
  
"Promise."  
  
"Good."  
  
Another pause longer than the first.  
  
"Bit?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"Anytime, Jamie. Anytime."  
  
* * *  
  
Sometime in the late morning Jamie found his father sitting alone on his bed in the room. Bit had gone somewhere with the promise to return before the afternoon, and Jamie knew it was time to say his decision.  
  
He entered the room quietly.  
  
"Dad?"  
  
Oscar looked up. "Oh. Hi, Jamie."  
  
Jamie crossed the room quietly and sat next to his father on the bed. Oscar waited for him to speak, watching him with loving and supporting eyes.  
  
"I . . . I've made my decision. I know what I want to do."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah." Jamie bit his lip. Tears flooded his eyes. He hugged his father tightly on impulse. "I love you, dad."  
  
Oscar hugged Jamie back just as tightly and ran his hand up and down Jamie's back. "I love you too, son."  
  
END CHAPTER ELEVEN  
  
NEXT CHAPTER: The Last Chapter Before the Epilogue: Jamie announces his decision and faces the Blitz team. Well, everyone except Bit because . . . yeah. You know what happens. I'm going to shut up now.  
  
A/N: Do you think you know what happens? Review. I don't think you do. Review. But please don't guess because that ruins it. Review. Just tell me how I'm doing. Review. Coffee is a very good thing. Review. Especially that Vanilla blended ice coffee from the Coffee Exchange at the mall . . . *dreamy smile* Ahh. Life is good. Review. 


	12. Must I keep doing this? Just read it an...

DISCLAIMER: Right. I don't own Zoids. We've been through this. If I owned Zoids Jamie would have a girlfriend and Vega would either not exist or be about five years older. (Don't even get me started on him.) But I don't own them. Any of them. The Cunning Wolf is mine, but just ask permission and he can be in your story too. I'm sure he'd like that. I am not making any money off of this story. No infringement is intended.  
  
CHAPTER TWELVE: We are far beyond the point of using titles  
  
Brad, Leena and the Doc hadn't yet arrived when Oscar, Bit and Jamie reached Dr. Harris' office. For some reason Jamie's heart was fluttering in his chest. This would be the first time he'd seen the rest of his team since they'd found out about his birthday. There was so much he'd been dying to know. What was their reaction to finding out that they'd forgotten? Did they feel bad? Did they care? Had they been worrying about him? Did anyone at the base even know how to do laundry? He hadn't wanted to ask Bit anything because he didn't want to seem too inquisitive.  
  
Jamie sat between Bit and his father on the couch on one side of the room and waited in the nervous silence. Frightening questions began to plague his mind. What if they didn't show up? What if they'd forgotten about this, too? What if they showed up, but didn't say anything to Dr. Harris? What if they tried to make it seem like *Jamie's* fault? Would she believe them? If it weren't for Bit's encouraging presence at his side, Jamie may very well have lost his mind with nervousness.  
  
His heart jumped into his throat upon the swish that indicated someone entering the room. He quickly looked down. Something prevented him from looking even out of the corner of his eye at the three people now just on the other side of the room. His cheeks began to burn; he focused all his energy on studying the edge of the couch cushion. There was a small frayed patch on the seam. When had that happened? Did Dr. Harris know it was there? Was she going to repair it, or would she just leave it there for patients like him to look at?  
  
"Jamie?" said Dr. Harris quietly. "Jamie?"  
  
Jamie looked up slowly, unable to speak. Leena and the Doc were seated in two wooden chairs just opposite the big couch. Leena was leaning forward, studying his expression carefully while at the same time trying to give him a small smile. Doc just looked old. New wrinkles had found their way into his expression - had those gray patches always been there in the roots of his hair? His sad eyes watched Jamie carefully.  
  
"Hi, Jamie," said Leena quietly. Neither Jamie nor the Doc spoke.  
  
Brad remained equally as silent. Jamie found, to little surprise, that the older warrior was leaning against the wall right next to the door, his arms folded casually and his normal "I'm-Brad-and-I-don't-care" expression watching the floor. He didn't want to be here. At least he wasn't trying to pretend he did. Jamie was almost glad for the sincerity in his manner.  
  
Dr. Harris broke the tense silence, much to Jamie's relief. He'd vowed to himself that morning that he *wouldn't* cry today, not for a minute would he let the Torros's and Brad see his tears, but his vow had been in vain. The familiar hot sting flooded his gray eyes not a minute after Dr. Harris began speaking, and the tears refused to stop their relentless flow after that.  
  
Jamie cried for the entire hour. Everything that was said brought back another painful wave of memories, another bout of shame in himself for being so weak-minded, another pang of guilt for having put his father through all of this. Until at one point he surrendered himself and just buried his face in his hands and sobbed. His dad and Bit's hands on his shoulders and back did little to comfort him now. He vaguely registered the sound of a chair shifting on the other side of the room, but paid it little attention.  
  
Arms wrapped themselves around his neck. Bare arms, thinner than those of Bit or his father. Someone was kneeling on the floor in front of him, holding him tightly in a comforting embrace.  
  
"I'm sorry, Jamie," whispered a sorrowful female voice into his ear, "Zi, Jamie, I'm so sorry."  
  
It was Leena. She was crying too.  
  
Jamie returned the hug and drew back for a moment to study her tear stained face. Her lavender eyes were misty and filled with remorse as she looked up at the poor lost kid in front of her whom she had never learned to appreciate.  
  
Jamie learned a lot in that one hour. More than he'd gotten out of sitting with only Bit and Oscar the previous few days. He learned that Doc really *did* have confidence in his abilities, but that he just wasn't old enough to bring out his own potential yet. He learned that Leena had actually remembered his birthday, but in her own preoccupation had never gotten around to doing anything about it, and had felt *terrible* when she realized what had happened. He learned that Bit was not the only one of the opinion that the Blitz team really needed him around in order to run smoothly. He saw that through all the times when he'd just been sitting there in the background or doing all the little housework or tech work for the team, his older teammates really had cared. They just needed to learn to show it.  
  
Brad didn't utter a single word the entire time. Had it been anyone else, Bit would have been extremely angry, more so than he already was. But Brad was Brad, and sometimes you just had to take him for what he was.  
  
It wasn't until after the hour was up and Jamie walking between his father and Bit down the front steps of the hospital that Brad finally talked to him.  
  
"Hey, Jamie."  
  
Jamie paused at the base of the steps and turned around. Bit, Leena, Oscar and the Doc watched silently.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
Brad stepped up to the younger boy casually. "Look, Jamie, I just wanted to say thanks. You've done a lot for us over the past year, and we all really appreciate it. Thanks for being there for us, Jamie."  
  
He gave Jamie a small smile. Jamie shrugged awkwardly at the moment but smiled back. To get a simple thanks from Brad was definitely something. Brad didn't really do gratitude. Jamie supposed he should be thankful for this.  
  
"Jamie."  
  
Another voice called him. This time it was that of his father. The two Wild Eagle's faced each other for a moment as it really hit them both. This was it. Both of them blinked hard.  
  
A small breeze tousled Oscar's dark hair. He put a hand on Jamie's shoulder. "Take care of yourself now, son. I don't want to hear about any of this happening again."  
  
"I will," replied Jamie.  
  
"I mean it. Contact me if things even look like they're going to return to the way they were before. Heck, contact me even if they don't. I want to talk to you more. I want to know what's going on."  
  
"I will, dad."  
  
"Good."  
  
Jamie swallowed tearfully.  
  
"I'll see you, then," said Oscar.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Aw," said Oscar with a grin, "Come here." He gave Jamie one last tight bear hug. Jamie smiled into his father's leather jacket. He desperately wanted him to stay, at least for a little longer. Part of him was even second-guessing his choice now. But he knew what he had to do. It was better this way.  
  
"I love you, Jamie."  
  
"I love you too, dad."  
  
They reluctantly broke apart. Jamie rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand as he stepped back. It hurt so much to see his father go. He was going to miss him bitterly.  
  
Someone's hand squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. Dr. Torros smiled down at him.  
  
"Oscar," he said solemnly.  
  
"Torros," came the neutral reply.  
  
Jamie looked from his dad, to the Doc and back again. There was something silent passing between the two men that he couldn't understand. Something had been talked about between them in private, though he couldn't think of possibly when. All he could see was that - although they were not the best of friends that they were before - Oscar was no longer so angry and the Doc could look him in the eye. They were being formal to each other, curt but polite in their exchange.  
  
"Take care of my son, will you, Torros?"  
  
"Sure thing, Oscar."  
  
The Blitz team stood together for the first time in a long while and watched Oscar's Pteras take off. Jamie especially watched the small blue Zoid until it was a speck against the sunset and then disappeared. He sat in silence for the ride home.  
  
That evening found Bit and Jamie in the tactics room working out the final details and paperwork for the rescheduled battle against the Stinger Team. It was tedious work, but with Bit at his side it seemed to get done much quicker. Doc and Leena, possibly with Brad's help, were in the kitchen making dinner. This made Jamie more than a little nervous.  
  
"Ah, don't worry about it," said Bit with a laugh. "They'll be fine in there. Doc owns this place, doesn't he?"  
  
"That doesn't mean anything. Can you imagine what trouble they could be getting into in there without my help?"  
  
"True. But hey, you know that if they screw up we can still order out."  
  
"I guess so. I hate to think of the mess they're making, though."  
  
"So they'll clean it up."  
  
"Doc? And Leena? Wish I could be so confident."  
  
"So then I'll clean up. Simple as that."  
  
Jamie's eyebrows shot up. He said nothing, but part of him marveled at the fact that the old Bit would *never* have said something like that. It just went to show how much they had changed since he had last been here.  
  
"We're all set with the Schneider," said Bit, looking down at a clipboard and searching for a pen. "I got it all set up before the battle was postponed."  
  
Jamie bit his lip. He wanted to say it. He knew he should, that it was for the good of the battle and the good of the team. But it was so hard. . . he didn't want to have gone through all of this just to have Bit ignore him like he had before.  
  
"Actually . . . "  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"I was thinking that . . . I don't know. I just had an idea. You don't have to listen to me if you don't want to."  
  
"Oh, come on, Jamie. Go for it. I want to hear it. You're our strategist, after all."  
  
Jamie took a steadying breath and explained the reasoning behind his idea of using the Jager. Bit was looking thoughtful when he finished.  
  
"You know," he said, "That's a good point. I think you may be onto something there, Jamie. You should tell the Doc when he comes in. Don't know why I didn't think of it before."  
  
Jamie smiled to himself.  
  
Dr. Torros had pretty much the same reaction as Bit to Jamie's idea when he entered the tactic's room. He smiled and scratched his chin thoughtfully.  
  
"That's a good idea. It would change our strategy around a bit, but it looks like it could work out better than the Schneider would. You have a good eye for seeing this stuff, Jamie."  
  
Jamie couldn't help but grin. "The Stinger's strong points are in the sheer indestructibility of their shielding and their armor," he started to explain. "They're almost like flying Elephanders because none but their own stinger missiles, and that includes the arsenals on the real Elephander, can penetrate their defenses. The Schneider wouldn't be much use on the battlefield because piercing armor and slicing through shields is precisely what its strengths are. It would be sort of pointless to have it on the field with weapons that can't do any damage to the enemy."  
  
"What about the Panzer?" asked the Doc. "Do you think it would be any good out there?"  
  
Jamie started to respond, but stopped with his mouth open. Something was very different. Everyone in the room - sure it was just Bit and the Doc, but still - was actually listening to him. Not just listening to him, but interested in what he had to say and taking his ideas into consideration. He wasn't just talking to get the information out of him, he was talking so that the others would hear it and act on it. When was the last time this had happened? He almost laughed out loud; the feeling was so good.  
  
"Jamie?" prodded the Doc.  
  
"Oh, right," Jamie shook his head. "I've looked over the weapons and arsenals on the Panzer, and it doesn't look like even it would be able to do much damaged to the outer armor on the Stingers. And even if it could inflict some damage, it would make the Liger Zero too heavy to move out of the way when a stinger missile is heading in its direction. Only the Jager would be able to do that."  
  
"So how would we fight them on offense?" asked Bit.  
  
"Well," said Jamie in reply. "It looks to me like the best way to do that would be to trick them into accidentally shooting each other with their own weapons. As far as I can see, if a Stinger Hornet was to be hit with its own missile, it would cause the same system freeze that it would in any other Zoid."  
  
"But how are we supposed to do that from the ground?"  
  
"That's where the problems start. It's going to be very difficult to pull off, that's for sure. I've been looking mainly at the agility and the height that the Shadow Fox and the Liger Zero can reach when they jump, and I've worked out a couple of moves you could try that might work. The Gunsniper isn't fast enough to really do much in that area except create a diversion. Though, with the Stinger's lack of maneuverability even in mid- air, you may be able to trick one of them into flying into the cliff face. It would be a long shot, but if it works it would cause considerable damage to their outer armor."  
  
Doc studied the screen for a moment. He knew, and he was pretty sure Bit did too, what needed to be done to really claim a hold on the battle.  
  
"Jamie?" he said carefully.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Would it be easier to follow this strategy if we had you and your Raynos out there on the battlefield?"  
  
Jamie was silent for a total minute. Shock was written all over his features.  
  
"The battle mode is 0982, Doc," he replied. "We can only have three Zoids out there."  
  
"I know that. Would it be easier to have you in an aerial Zoid out there instead of one of the others?"  
  
Jamie's jaw dropped. No one . . . never . . . he never went into battle unless they needed four or one of them couldn't fight. He was never asked to go in as a regular warrior. Never. It just wasn't done.  
  
"I . . . I guess it would. Having an air Zoid would certainly make things simpler."  
  
"Then it's settled," said the Doc in a final tone of voice. "We use the Jager and the Raynos. You should probably replace Leena; the Gunsniper isn't very maneuverable like you said and the smoke discharger on the Shadow Fox may come in handy in battle. That's only if you're willing to do this, of course."  
  
Jamie couldn't believe what he was hearing. Not only had he been asked to go into a battle as a regular warrior, but Doc - *Doc* - had asked him to replace *his own daughter*. Jamie had to pinch himself to see if he wasn't dreaming this all up.  
  
"O-okay, Doc," he said weakly.  
  
Bit beamed. "That's the spirit, Jamie!" he cried. "We're going to do great!"  
  
Doc smiled.  
  
"Come on," he told the two warriors, "Let's go back and have dinner."  
  
The work was abandoned for the moment as the three left the room in comfortable silence.  
  
END CHAPTER TWELVE  
  
NEXT CHAPTER: Epilogue: We will be officially done! Go ahead, cheer. I see you. I don't care. :P This was getting way long, I know that.  
  
Review please!!! And yes, the outcome of the battle *will* be told, so don't ask. 


	13. Epilogue: That's all, folks!

DISCLAIMER: See the original 12 chapters. Are you spotting a pattern here? I certainly hope so, because the same holds true for this last installment. Did you expect it to be any different now? Still don't own 'em. Still don't intent to infringe. Do you have any legal problems with this? Email me if you do and I'll change what you want.  
  
EPILOGUE  
  
Things around the base changed drastically over the next few weeks. After that first eventful night, the conclusion was reached that perhaps Bit and Jamie should be the ones to make dinner in the evenings. Not that Leena, Brad and Doc didn't clean up and/or fix everything they had messed up in the kitchen. Quite the contrary. It was just that they all figured that the poor pizza guy would get mighty sick of traveling all the way out to the base every evening, and ordering out time and time again would certainly pile up in expenses. So it was decided that Bit and Jamie were to be the permanent caterers around the base - a decision to which no one opposed.  
  
Everyone nowadays did his (or in Leena's case, her) own laundry. This made things considerably easier for poor Jamie, except for when Bit unknowingly put his white undershirt and his black sweatpants together in the same cycle, and discovered to his dismay that such an action turned the former this really ugly gray color. But, as Jamie pointed out, Bit had learned a valuable lesson from this, and at least it hadn't been his red pants in there with his shirt instead of his black ones.  
  
Everyone took special care to separate the colors after that.  
  
Much to Jamie's surprise, Leena didn't react negatively at all to her being left out of the upcoming battle. She seemed to agree with the Doc on the point of the Raynos being more useful in battle than the Gunsniper, and - as she had said herself - what was the point of a good Zoid battle if you couldn't blow your enemy to smithereens?  
  
Thus the Stinger battle approached with the Blitz team on very good terms. The battle came. The battle went.  
  
They won.  
  
By a very satisfying margin, in fact.  
  
Satisfying as in three Stingers and a Shadow Fox with system freezes and a Liger Zero Jager with slightly chipped blue paint.  
  
"Yeah!" cried Bit, pumping his fist after the judge announced the results. "Look out, Class S! Here comes the Blitz team! Nice job, Jamie!"  
  
"Way to go, team!" agreed Doc over the intercom. "You did excellent out there! And you, Jamie! You and the Raynos were *amazing*!"  
  
The hatch to the Raynos' cockpit opened, and out jumped a single black haired young man. A breathtaking array of reds, oranges, yellows and pinks danced across the sky and the horizon as the sun sank slowly below the mountains off to the west. A small, contented smile played at the boy's lips as his gray eyes took it all in. Since the beginning he had only waited in the Hover Cargo after the battle ended for Bit and the others to finish outside and reload for their return. He had often wondered what it was that they could possibly be up to out there; why it was that Bit night after night consented to gaze into the sunset for what seemed like a full ten minutes without moving.  
  
Now he was beginning to understand.  
  
"Finally made it, Raynos," he said quietly to the graceful green Zoid beside him. "I'm a real warrior now." It was all he could to do not laugh out loud in triumph.  
  
"Hey, you. . . kid."  
  
Jamie turned around. A friendly looking woman with long lavender hair that reminded him of Pierce stood looking at him.  
  
"You put up a really good fight today. Amazing feats for someone your age."  
  
"Thanks," said Jamie with a timid smile.  
  
"I haven't heard much about you. Mostly that Liger Zero and his pilot. I must say, the four of you certainly make a team to be reckoned with. We'll meet again in another battle, I presume?"  
  
"Yeah," Jamie replied. "I'd like that."  
  
"I'll see you around, kid."  
  
"See ya."  
  
Jamie returned his gaze to the setting sun and sighed happily. Things had become so different. . . so *right* after he returned to the base. It was like everything was falling into place. A feeling of triumph and achievement that he'd never felt before - even after they'd made it into Class S - began to creep up on him. *They'd* found their way to the top some time ago, but *he* had just made it, and it felt wonderful. To think that he could call himself a real warrior now. Maybe he wasn't quite to the level of Bit and Brad and the other top-of-the-line warriors, but he'd get there. Someday soon.  
  
/At least I know I could beat out Harry if I wanted to,/ he thought with a laugh.  
  
It was a feeling he loved, a moment he would cherish and remember fondly for a long, long time.  
  
Just over the horizon, a small white comet made it's way across the sky and faded into the orange background. It was quick; it was inconspicuous and almost unnoticed. But one young man caught its brief appearance.  
  
And he smiled broadly for all the world to see.  
  
END EPILOGUE  
  
END THE CUNNING WOLF  
  
A/N: Hello, hello! You didn't think I'd end this thing without a really really long author's note, did you? Actually, I really can't believe it's over. I'm sitting here thinking, what? No more chapters to write on this thing? But I guess its all for the best. And I DO have that RPG that I started a while ago. . . *sigh* I guess I do owe it to people to get that one going, don't I?  
  
Okay, so THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU*THANKYOU*!!!!!! To everyone who reviewed and/or emailed me concerning this story. Weather it was encouraging, critical, or even the occasional e-flame (actually, I didn't get any review flames, did I?) I seriously appreciated the feedback. People seem to think I have this sort of gift for writing, but I never saw it. Your encouragement is what kept me going, and I'm SOO grateful to you people who saw me through this.  
  
And to those who said I made them cry. . . O.O me???? I've never done that to anyone before. That's. . . that's just cool. I hope this is a GOOD thing. I mean, I don't want to make you all depressed and everything, but the fact that this story made people cry is pretty cool from the author's perspective.  
  
One thing I REALLY hoped for. . . if there is anyone out there reading this who isn't really an avid Jamie-fan (I know that if you're reading this, you don't hate the kid, but I mean for the people who prefer Bit or Brad or Leena or Harry) that I gave you a new insight on the kid. Maybe you didn't see it before, but the poor guy is seriously under-rated. Where Harry is shown sometimes as plain pathetic (he's kind of the comic relief) poor Jamie is overlooked time and time again and I for one do not like it. Can you see now what that poor kid is put through? Much of what I wrote about I here - Jamie's doing all the work, the fact that they'd fall apart without him, the possibility of Doc forgetting his birthday, his real potential BESIDES the Wild Eagle, Vega's being waywayWAY too young - is based on my own true opinion on the series. I wrote this with the intent of changing at least one person's view on the most underrated character in the series.  
  
Snakelady Frohike: Yes indeed, it can. In fact, it is over. I can't stand stories that just go on and on and on for 37 chapters or so. You lose the plot. But don't worry - just because this story is over doesn't mean I'll never write another Jamie story again. There are NEXT TO NONE of them out there and I created this pen name intending to change that. (P.S. Naked Jamie? Ew. I'm sorry - I love the kid an all, but that. that's a bit much for me.)  
  
EMPRESS: I felt I should include a personal message to you, because you reviewed this story more than anyone else. (Count 'em, folks! Every chapter except the first one!) That is so amazing. Seriously. It's awesome to post a new chapter and see that you are SO incredibly loyal that you review them all! And your comment about the fave's list didn't go unappreciated. Thank you so much! You will be here for my next stories. right?  
  
So goodbye for now, and I hope to see you all when my next story comes out! Until then, review, email, do whatever, but. . . Uh oh. Do I need to put some sort of moral lesson thing in here? Okay . . . *sweatdrop* don't drink strawberry vodka if you find it lying around in a parking lot because, well, because it's just a very bad thing.  
  
Thank you all!  
  
~Superkat 


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